A test strategy is the set of ideas that guides your test design. It's what explains why you test this instead of that, and why you test this way instead of that way. Strategic thinking matters because testers must make quick decisions about what needs testing right now and what can be left alone. You must be able to work through major threads without being overwhelmed by tiny details. James Bach describes how test strategy is organized around risk but is not defined before testing begins. Rather, it evolves alongside testing as we learn more about the product. We start with a vague idea of our strategy, organize it quickly, and document as needed in a concise way. In the end, the strategy can be as formal and detailed as you want it to be. In the beginning, though, we start small. If you want to focus on testing and not paperwork, this approach is for you.
James Bach
James Bach is founder and principal consultant of Satisfice, Inc., a software testing and quality assurance company. In the eighties, James cut his teeth as a programmer, tester, and SQA manager in Silicon Valley in the world of market-driven software development. For nearly fifteen years, he has traveled the world teaching rapid software testing skills and serving as an expert witness on court cases involving software testing. James is the author of Lessons Learned in Software Testing and Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar: How Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion Can Lead to a Lifetime of Success.
Test reporting is something few testers take time to practice. But, it's a fundamental skill—and vital for your professional credibility and your own self-management. Many people think management judges testing by bugs found or test cases executed. Actually, testing is judged by the story it tells. If your story sounds good, you win. A test report is the story of your testing. It begins as the story we tell ourselves, each moment we are testing, about what we are doing and why. We use the test story, within our own minds, to guide our work. James Bach explores the skill of test reporting and examines some of the many different forms a test report might take. As in other areas of testing, context drives good reporting. Sometimes we make an oral report; occasionally we need to write it down. Join James for an in-depth look at the art of the reporting.
You want to integrate skilled testing and development work. But how do you accomplish this without developers accidentally subverting the testing process or testers becoming an obstruction? Efficient, deep testing requires “critical distance” from the development process, commitment and planning to build a testable product, dedication to uncovering the truth, responsiveness among team members, and often a skill set that developers alone—or testers alone—do not ordinarily possess. James Bach and Michael Bolton present a model which is a redesign of the famous Agile Testing Quadrants that distinguished business vs. technical facing tests and supporting vs. critiquing. Their new model frames these dynamics and helps teams think through the nature of development and testing roles and how they might blend, conflict, or support each other on an agile project. James and Michael include a brief discussion of the original Agile Testing Quadrants model, which the presenters believe has created much confusion about the role of testing in agile.