The document explores the concept of professional testing, defining it as testing conducted by someone in a designated testing role for a client, while emphasizing the importance of understanding nuances, motivations, and missions in this context. It discusses the difference between professionalism and acting professionally, highlighting that professional testing is difficult to define strictly but is anchored in ethical standards and client interests. Ultimately, it raises questions about the nature of professional testing and the roles and responsibilities of professional testers.

1. WHAT IS WHAT IS
PROFESSIONAL TESTING?
James Thomas
@qahiccupps, qahiccupps.blogspot.co.uk
MEWT #5. 9th April 2016

2. A professional tester should be alert
to nuances of meaning.

3. A professional tester
should accept that
sometimes there won’t
be an explicit definition.
When I say Professional
Testing it means just what I
choose it to mean — neither
more nor less.

4. Profession
“A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized
educational training, the purpose of which is to supply
disinterested objective counsel and service to others, for a
direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from
expectation of other business gain”
A professional tester should be alert to
blocking manoeuvres. What is the motive?
A professional tester should be prepared to go
against the instructions of the stakeholders.

5. Mission
What do they hope to achieve by asking the
question?
Who is asking this question?
The organisers, on behalf of the testing community.
What prompted them to ask
the question?
Find some heuristics and principles that can be
utilised to increase the profile of testing
Because we needed a topic to discuss at MEWT.
A professional tester would want to
understand their mission.

6. Meta Testing
Well played. Are you in senior
management? ;-)
Cost/benefit analysis suggested spending less than
5 minutes of my time and giving you my most honest
response would probably suffice. If you actually do
need more info, let me know.
A professional tester might now
choose to restate the mission.
A professional tester
might now test the
relationship.

7. Mission
• Non-specific problem to investigate
• Non-specific client to solve it for
• Questions of definition are in the story
• But what else is in the story?

8. A professional tester should have
tools at their disposal to help them
gather data.

9. OPPOSITION

10. Amateur

11. The professional network
the world's largest open
community that exists to advance
and promote the software testing
professionA professional tester might
ask whether professional
testing must be performed
by professional testers.

12. Unprofessional
A professional tester might observe a
difference between being professional and
acting professionally.

13. EXEMPLARS

14. professional ethical standards
The Association for Software Testing is ...
focused on supporting the development of
professionalism in software testing
I will ... strive to achieve the
highest quality, effectiveness and
dignity in both the process and
products of professional work.
A professional tester might
note that this means a
professional could do an
unprofessional job

16. Professional Testing is hard
to define but I know it when I
see it.
A professional tester ought
to be able to do better than
that, right?

17. What is Professional Testing?
• Professional testing is testing
• … by someone in a testing role, for a client
• … at some time, for some project
• which might
• … include specified practices
• … involve people nominated as professional testers
• … involve acting professionally
• and which is
• … unlikely to be amenable to tight definition
• … but might accept an envelope like the AST’s
• … and so have the client’s interests foremost
• … but offers no guarantees about outcome

18. •Was any of
What is What is
Professional Testing?
professional testing?

20. Selected References
• http://wordyenglish.com/alice/i/lg2/lg_29.png
• http://www.clker.com/cliparts/6/S/W/2/g/t/transparent-red-no-circle-md.png
• http://www.catersnews.com/stories/art-tech/museum-of-bad-art/
• https://www.carthrottle.com/post/jeremy-clarkson-s-fracas-has-cost-him-100-000-
in-racial-discrimination-claim/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it
• http://www.briansolis.com/category/contextmatters/
• https://thetomatos.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/open-book-cover-clip-art-
clipart-free-clipart-images-1.jpg
• http://cdn2.autoexpress.co.uk/sites/autoexpressuk/files/header_toolbox-5423.jpg
• http://www.vertextools.com/media/catalog/product/cache/12/image/9df78eab3352
5d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/o/combination_spanner_43.jpg
• http://www.jimbodetools.com/images/products/194579.jpg
• https://blog.playbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/playbuzz-batman-
pondering.gif
• http://www.niemanlab.org/images/question-marks-cc-1280x457.jpg