A Cross/Tick

Testing's just a matter of following the steps, they say. It's as binary as a no/yes or a fail/pass. Anyone can do it. That's obvious isn't it?

Well, perhaps. But they'll still ask: why do bugs suddenly appear, every time you are near? It's close to the question Karen Carpenter posed and easier to answer: bugs appear because people write the software and manage the processes used to produce the software. And why when you're near and not others? Because, like all good testers, what you follow is your nose, and you know the importance of things like

Notes, of your test ideas which you review regularly before, during and after testing
Observations, constantly, of the AUT, the users, the developers, the test team, their interactions and assertions and ambguities and the rest
Systematicity, for those times when rigour is important
Havoc, for those times when you just need to provoke a reaction
Interest, in the product, its use, the domain, the technology
Thinking, inside, outside, around, under and through the application you're looking at

At this point, it's traditional in testing to produce a MN EM ON IC aide memoire but I won't because it's obvious. Isn't it?
Image: digitalart/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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