Cambridge Lean Coffee

This month's Lean Coffee was hosted by Linguamatics. Here's some brief, aggregated comments and questions on topics covered by the group I was in.

As a developer, how can I make a tester's job easier?

Lots of good communication.
Tell us about the test coverage you already have.
Tell us what it would be useful for you to know.
Tell us what you would not like to see in the application.
Tell us what is logged, where, why, when.
Tell us what the log messages mean.
Tell us how you think it's supposed to work.
Show us how you think it's supposed to work.
Give us feedback on our testing - what's helping, what isn't.
Offer to demonstrate what you've done.
Say what you think are the risky areas, and why.
Say what was hard to get right, and why.
Recognise that we're not there to try and beat or show you up.
Help us find our unknown unknowns by sharing with us

How can we help you, as a developer?

Give good repro steps in your reports.
Help me to understand the ambiguous requirements.
Ask your questions, they really do help.
Don't accuse.
Have specific details of the issues you observed.
Understand that developers can feel defensive of their work.
Tell me when you see something good, or something that works.

How do you avoid or mitigate biases?

Look back and review what you did, critically.
Check your assumptions or assertions.
Ask a developer.
Externalise your assumptions.
Peer review.
Rubber ducking.
Write (but don't send) and email to someone who might know. (Like rubber ducking)
Do something else for a bit and come back.
Be aware of the kinds of biases there are and then you can check for them.
Rule of three helps to generate perspectives.
Write down what you did, as this prompts thoughts about it.
Compare what you did to something else you could have done.
Remember to say "my assumption is" or "but perhaps that's my bias" out loud.

Should all testers know a programming language and, if so, which one?

It can help, e.g. to review code changes.
It can help with other aspects of testing, e.g. data generation.
Which language? Shell, because it's almost always just there.
I like python.
Should is a strong verb. Understanding the need would help to answer.
Testers shouldn't feel forced to learn a programming language
... but they should understand the risks of not (e.g. in recruitment, or by lacking a powerful tool)
It helps with software development jobs generally.
So does other technical knowledge, e.g. of HTTP.
Reading a language helps in testing.
There's an analogy to speaking English in a foreign country - it helps to have a bit of the local language.
Enables more empathy with the developer - probably less of the "we'll just fix that" mentality.
When recruiting, I don't care about the language.
It's best when there's support and a community to help learn programming.

What testing tool would you like to be able to wave a magic wand and just invent?

A universal standard for test case management and reporting software.
A tool to create a visual map of product architecture which can be overlaid with code changes, all aspects of testing, recent issues.
... and also predict new issues!
Something that can reliably map specification items to test cases, and show what needs to be changed when the spec changes.
A reliable, stable GUI testing tool.
Something that puts a team straight into the sweet spot of great communication, talking directly, working with each other.
A Babel fish that means that the listener understands exactly what was meant by the speaker.

Do you bring questions to Lean Coffee or make them up when you're here?

Both.
I think about them in the shower.
I try to come with one then make some up.
I take notes during the month, then try to remember them on the way.
I think on the way in.
Would some kind of a board, perhaps Trello, be useful to store them between meet ups?
Perhaps it'd lead to discussion in Trello?
Perhaps people would come prepared with arguments for the issues they'd seen on Trello.
Topics might be stale by the time the meetup comes around.
Spontaneous is good!
Person-to-person is good!
Paper and pencil mean you think differently

Image: https://flic.kr/p/99rwUV

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On Herding Cats

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Reasonable Doubt

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Vanilla Flavour Testing

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Open Your Mind

Jerome Groopman, in How Doctors Think , reviews ways in which doctors can make poor choices, identifies potential causes, and suggests some practices, for both doctor and patient, that can help to prevent them. I find this interesting for a couple of reasons: first, I work in the health space, although not in a therapeutic area and, second, I like to reflect on my own thought processes. I'll take three broad themes from Groopman's analysis: the business of healthcare and how that impacts a physician's ability to practice; the doctor-patient relationship and how that impacts the experience of both sides; and the cognitive failings that impact a correct and timely diagnosis for any given patient. Naturally, these overlap. The book is written from the perspective of the notoriously commercialised American medical system and is around 20 years old, so doubtless some of the details are different outside of the US and have changed since pu...

Why Test, Test What, Then How?

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Better Isolate Than Never

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