Testers can sometimes appear to be problematic in the software development process. The Project Manager is under pressure from Accounts to get a project delivered so that the money can come in, and there YOU are finding issues during testing and now the accounts team cannot invoice the customer when they initially planned to.
Companies hire Testers to find issues before they get to production so this should come to no surprise however, due to gaps in processes often masked as being 'Agile', the pressure can build up and as us Testers are the last point of call before release, we can often seem to be the problem. There are many reasons for this issue coming up, from communication to the lack of understanding from other team members of what testers do. Regardless of the reason, it is vital to remember that Testers are on your side. Testers want to release software/applications of the highest quality containing the best user experience possible, which includes of course making sure the app does what it is supposed to do with the least amount of issues present in the app.
Why this topic? Recently I was involved in a project that was extremely complex. The application had many moving parts all working with each other. To top it off, there were also no requirements for the development of the application. The CEO saw a gap in the market and put the orders out. Development was quick for what it was, but in the stand ups I could sense the urgency and felt the pressure.
It was then time to test the application. I produced my test plan beforehand so had my approach ready and did as much 'non functional' testing as possible before the application was deployed to test. During my testing I could see immediately that the application was rushed. It was riddled with UI issues. The data in the application was validated so no issues there and that was the main selling point of the application. I spent around two days doing some exploratory testing on it, and I'd note down every time there was an issue that needed further investigation. The rest of the week was spent investigating findings during the exploratory sessions and logging bugs.
The release date for the application was approaching so the CEO called a meeting to get an update on progress. PM: 'yes testing has now finished it looks like we are on track', Developer: 'There are issues raised but nothing major'....then an update from me, the Tester: 'The application has a lot of UI/UX issues present that really affect first impressions of the application. It isn't as intuitive as it can be, buttons don't work in places. I have a long list of all the issues I have found and I don't feel at this stage we can deliver the project for when you initially intended...'
**crickets**
All eyes on me. Some great updates there until the Tester spoke. The responses I received had me thinking two things...Firstly, I really have to sell testing and its value to the team, and ...I need to write a blog post about this.
All eyes on me. Some great updates there until the Tester spoke. The responses I received had me thinking two things...Firstly, I really have to sell testing and its value to the team, and ...I need to write a blog post about this.
After feedback on my findings, they were dismissed and put on the project backlog because the main USP of the product was fine (which, by the way, you needed to interact with the UI to access). I then decided to reiterate the point to the team that, we are all working together to deliver a quality piece of software. We all want the users to love this product. We have to think about those things just as much as bringing the money in. Yes, they were mainly issues in relation to the UI but the user experience should never be underestimated. How many products are out there that do such complex things yet are just a pain to use!? It plays an even bigger role when you have other products doing the same thing.
Unfortunately, my 'we come in peace' speech fell on deaf ears and the issues I had found, minus one or two, were put on the product backlog. It's been demo'd to clients as far as I know, and... still hasn't sold. Is this because they didn't fix the issues I found? Maybe not, but there's fine line between rushing something out for the sake of some money.
In agile environments, projects can move along so quickly that there are pressures that can arise. It is in these moments where companies must remember we are all a team, unified on the same goals. So when waiting to move that invoice out from the 'drafts' tab, just remember...We are Testers, we come in peace!
Hope you enjoyed the read! PS, I'm a little more active on Twitter nowadays, so reach out if you like/disliked the post.
All the best!
@webtesthub
