Presentation Given at StarEast, in May 2014, by Joel Montvelisky, PractiTest's chief solution architect. 12 tips to improve your worth as a tester and your testing process.

1. Joel Montvelisky
Chief Solution Architect
Simple & Flexible Test Management
12 Tips for Becoming
a MoreProfessionalTester
(…or how to stop being a Non-Professional tester)

2. A little about me…
 Professions :
(last 17 years)
- Tester
- QA Manager
- Blogger
- Speaker
- Solution
Architect
 Some numbers:
- 1 wife
- 3 kids
- 1 dog & 1 fish
- 21 Km
 PractiTest
- Chief Solution Architect
- QA Manager (retired)
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 Other interesting stuff

3. State of Testing Survey
& Report 2013
 What’s the state of the global testing community?
 Tea-Time with Testers, PractiTest &
tens of bloggers and tweeps
 600+ respondents & 40+ countries
 Report available for Free (PractiTest’s blog)
 Webinar with Jerry Weinberg &Fionna Charles
(TTwT Site)
 Will run yearly – context driven work in progress
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4. Is Testing a Profession?
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“A type of job that requires
special Education, Training, or Skill”
A profession is also something you
belongto and identifywith…
Profession (Merriam-Webster):

5. Why do so many testers
feelthey are not Professionals???
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6. What makes
someone A Professional?
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7. Let’s take a couple of examples
of Professionals in other fields
 A Doctor
 A Wood Craftsman
 A Soldier  Knowledge
 Experience
 Tools
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8. The Professional
“Virtual Toolbox”
A set of tools that the professional
knows when and how to use.
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9. The Testing Professional
Virtual Toolbox
 Methodological tools
 Technical tools
 User Advocacy tools
 Project tools
 Communication tools
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10. Do you know what’s in
Your Toolbox?
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11. Mapping and planning
your Testing Toolbox
Tip 1 – Map your virtual toolbox
Study your strong and weak points, what tools do you have
right now and what you need to acquire or develop.
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Tip 2 – Define your career path
Understand where do you want to be in 2,
5 and 10 years from now, and draw a plan
on how you will get there.

12. How do you test today?
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13. Your Virtual Toolbox-
Methodological Tools
Tip 3 – Combine multiple testing techniques
Don’t work all the time only with one knife. Sometimes you
will need to use a fork and a spoon too.
Tip 4 – Renounce your Testing Ego
Leave your emotions outside the testing lab, concentrate on
the testing tasks and NOT on the people around them.
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14. Are you a
Technical Tester?
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Youneed to be (at least)
Technically Proficient !

15. Your Virtual Toolbox-
Technical Tools
Tip 5 – Use more technical tools
Find ways to automate parts of your work to become more
efficient. Learn a scripting language, download a tool/s and
spend some time perfecting your knowledge of it.
Tip 6 – Be part of the “technical talk” of your project
Get involved in the technical aspects. Participate in design
sessions, code walkthroughs, learn about the system’s
architecture, ask your programmers about the internals of their
work.
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16. Tip 7 – Work with internal feeds & logs
Learn to work with as much “internal information” as possible.
System feeds, product logs and monitoring tools will help you to
understand not only what happens to the UI but also what’s
going on “behind the scenes” of your product.
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Your Virtual Toolbox-
Technical Tools

17. What are you doing to
get to know your users?
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18. Your Virtual Toolbox-
User Advocacy Tools
Tip 8 – Meet your users
Interact with your users, if possible
visit them to see how they work,
understand what are their real needs
and problems.
Tip 9 – Create user profiles
Have something tangible you can use while
planning, developing and discussing your
product.
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19. How are you collaborating
outside of your actual testing?
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20. Your Virtual Toolbox-
Project Management Tools
Tip 10 – Manage the Risk of your Project
Many project lack Risk Managers. Asses the
project and product risks, manage them
and provide on-going visibility
Tip 11- Start testing Earlier
Don’t wait until they throw the first build over the wall and
ask you to test it
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21. How do you communicate the
information you gather?
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22. Your Virtual Toolbox-
Communication Tools
Tip 12 – S-M-A-R-T Communication
Simple – Measurable – Actionable – Repeatable - TIMELY.
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23. Tip 13 – Respect is earned
and it cannot be given
Behave professionally
Prove yourself in a number of situations
Solve issues, it is not enough to point at them
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24. Becoming a more Professional
Testers – all 13 tips
1. Map your toolbox
2. Define your career path
3. Combine testing techniques
4. Renounce your testing ego
5. Use more tech tools
6. Be part of the tech discussion
7. Work with feeds & logs
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8. Meet your users
9. Create user profiles
10. Manage all Risk
11. Start testing earlier
12. S-M-A-R-T communication
13. Earn your respect

25. And finally, back to our Doctor
If you got to choose, who would you go to?
The one who has all the
fancy diplomas on the wall
and sits all day in his office?
-- or --
The one who is constantly
learning from experience and
treating the latest illnesses?
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26. About
 SaaS ALM Solution
 Simple & Intuitive – yet – Methodological & Flexible
 Integrates with Jira, Redmine, Bugzilla, SVN, Selenium, QTP,
Ranorex, SoapUI, etc…
 Best Darn Support in the Business 
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27. Thank You!
joel@practitest.com
http://qablog.practitest.com
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