What advice do you have for someone who is executing the first collection of tests?

🙋 Questions
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1

I would be grateful for your insights on what key points to emphasize and what strategies have proven effective for you when helping juniors execute their first set of tests.

  • What tips would you give to someone who is about to run their first set of tests?
  • What are some things to keep in mind when executing a new set of tests?
  • What are some common mistakes that people make when executing tests for the first time?

Your wisdom and shared experiences will help contribute towards the Junior Tester Curriculum and in turn the growth of the testing community.

1 Like
2

Judge me guilty for over-thinking your phrasing.
Are you explicitly asking for the execution, the interaction with a product? Any subset of actions or tasks of testing?
Is there a specific meaning / intention behind “set of tests” ?
Or do you refer to testing as whole?

If it is the later I would just refer to just “test”. “You test for the first time.”
e.g. creating some ‘manual test cases’ is already part of the testing. It is thinking and imagining about potential problems.

If not, how about describing it more explicitly?

I fear that some misconceptions can be taken from the phrasing you choose here.
I do not intended any offense.

3

I would recommend anyone new in testing (and also many senior people) this from James Bach.

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I was looking for a good quote from a TV series, it boils down to this. In my mind I paraphrase
“Start wide, look at everything. If you focus it becomes too easy to confirm your biases”

I found the original reference in one of my favorite crime/forensic science series:

NCIS Season 7 Episode 4 Good cop Bad Cop timecode 28:50
Abby: When dealing with large amounts of evidence
Timothy: Which is?
Abby: No plan just go
(pause)
Abby: If you look for something specific…
Timothy: Then there is only one right answer!

Note: Other epic TV series do exist, do all testers love whodunnit TV? Safe to say that getting a good handle on the culture around the quality of a product and the process always requires being able to step back and avoid going down any rabbit holes too early.