The Tester's Three C’s: Communication, Criticism, Confidence

Whether you are in an independent testing team and need to communicate formally or in an agile context communicating face-to-face, it can be difficult to do your job well when you are telling people what they don’t want to hear. Dot Graham presents examples of different types and styles of communication, including Virginia Satir’s communication interaction model, that can help you get your points across without rancor. Dot examines criticism—what it is, different types, and the DASR (Describing, Acknowledging, Specifying, and Reaffirming) model for sharing criticism. Since testers are often find themselves critics of other people’s work, knowing how we respond to being criticized can provide us with useful insight into how other may receive our criticism. To be an effective tester, it is important to understand criticism—from the viewpoint of both the giver and the receiver. Testers need to communicate their findings with just the right level of confidence because both under-confidence and over-confidence can be detrimental to your work and the project. Join Dot to explore these three C’s that enable you to be a better tester.