This document discusses communication in software testing. It notes that communication is both easy but also difficult due to potential misunderstandings. Good communication skills are important for testers as they provide valuable information to project members and management to inform decision making. Testers may need to communicate with many roles such as developers, product owners, and management. Communication can be difficult due to barriers like differences in assumptions, goals, and culture between roles. The document provides tools to improve communication, such as active listening, awareness of cognitive biases, and critical thinking.

1. COMMUNICATION IN SW
TESTING (AND DEVELOPMENT)
MARC RÜHLÄNDER
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2. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
DISCLAIMER
▸ I will ask questions to the audience
▸ Participation is voluntary!
▸ Participation is fun 😃
▸ Safe to Fail
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3. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
INTRODUCTION
▸ Communication is easy: we do it all the time
▸ Communication is difficult: misunderstandings are
common
▸ I believe that, in a (software) development context, good
communication skills are particularly important for testers
▸ Let me show you, why…
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4. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
DO IT:
WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE
OBJECTIVES FOR TESTING?
▸ Think about different
“stakeholders”
▸ Think about different “maturity”
levels (process and team)
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5. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
THE PURPOSE OF TESTING
▸ Paul Gerrard, “The Tester’s Pocketbook”:
▸ “… gather information to learn about … a system and …
make a decision based on the outcome” of testing
▸ Testers provide valuable information to project members
and management
▸ Testers inform decision making
▸ Testers need excellent interpersonal skills, particularly
communication skills
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6. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
DO IT:
WHO MIGHT A TESTER NEED
TO COMMUNICATE WITH?
▸ Think about communicating test
goals (strategy, prioritisation)
▸ Think about communicating test
results (progress, “final” reports)
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7. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
TESTERS COMMUNICATE WITH MANY ROLES
▸ So do most people (with other roles in SW development)
▸ But while other roles often need to focus on
“How can we achieve this?” …
▸ … testers are usually free to ponder
“How can this fail?”
▸ This extends to communication
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8. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
DO IT:
WHAT MAKES
COMMUNICATION DIFFICULT?
▸ How can communication fail?
▸ Think about non-verbal aspects
▸ Think about contextual aspects
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9. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
BARRIERS TO EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION
▸ “Communication iceberg”:
▸ only 1/7 of communication is explicit
▸ 6/7 are implicit: emotional, contextual, body language, …
▸ “Trust train”:
▸ efficient communication requires “building bridges”
▸ Unawareness of differences:
▸ implicit assumptions
▸ cultural
▸ goals
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10. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
TOOLS:
ACTIVE LISTENING
▸ listen with intent to understand
(not with intent to reply)
▸ ask for clarification
▸ echo in your own words
▸ don't be condescending
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→ BUILD TRUST

11. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
TOOLS:
COGNITIVE BIASES
▸ Confirmation bias
▸ Framing effect
▸ Sunk cost fallacy
▸ Hindsight bias
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→ BUILD AWARENESS

12. COMMUNICATION IN SOFTWARE TESTING
TOOLS:
CRITICAL THINKING
▸ Question assumptions
▸ Question motives
▸ Question conclusions
▸ Use data / facts
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→ BUILD CONFIDENCE

13. THANK YOU FOR
PARTICIPATING
Marc Rühländer, Factlines AS
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