I’m hosting the third edition of Steel Yourselves, a webinar with Vernon Richards and Eric Proegler on 21st June.
In Steel Yourselves, the presenters push themselves to make the strongest case they can for claims they fundamentally disagree with. You’ll get a chance to challenge them in the Q&A and then hear them reflect on the whole experience.
Vernon Richards, Only a Tester can make the Test Strategy
The testing and quality specialist must always dictate the quality and testing strategy because they care the most and are the only ones doing real testing. The time spent trying to level up teammates and help them learn how to solve testing and quality problems is waste. Instead, we should focus on delivering as quickly as possible, which means telling people what to do whether they want to hear it or not.
Eric Proegler, Best Practices are Good Enough
Context-Driven Testing explicitly rejects Best Practices, directing us to attend context first when choosing techniques for testing software. This emphasizes the role of expertise and experience in tailoring testing strategy, allowing craftspeople to maximize their effectiveness and project outcomes.
Many software projects don’t have expert testers participating, or even testing specialists. Testers early in their careers don’t know what they don’t know. Leaders need to convince their constituents that testing is both efficient and sufficient - and avoid becoming cautionary tales for future projects. People in these situations need someplace to start, and tools to help them make a difference quickly. They also need confidence they can help, and to create credibility to get people to collaborate with them and answer their questions.
The influence and impact of Context-Driven Testing is not served by dismissing these needs out of hand. Other schools of testing offer answers that might help, so we should not be surprised that many seekers move towards sources that offer usable support.
Previous editions