When you’re faced with different testing challenges, which skills do you rely on most? Here are some scenarios to explore: which skills do you think are essential?
Investigating a bug report: A customer reports a bug with a login feature, but the steps to reproduce the issue are unclear. What skills help you figure it out?
Collaborating on a new feature: You’re in a meeting with developers and the product manager, discussing a new feature. What helps you ask the right questions and think about potential risks?
Conducting exploratory testing: You’re asked to explore a new release for issues not covered by test cases. What skills help you decide what to test and where to look for problems?
Prioritising bugs for a release: There are multiple bugs, but not all can be fixed before release. What skills help you determine which ones to prioritise?
We’re curious to know:
Which skills or traits do you find most valuable for completing these tasks?
And do you have any tips on developing these skills to help others in the community?
Background- the current team I work in is lean (2 developers/1 BA/1 Tester/1 Product Owner) so as a result- we are very collaborative within our internal team, and also our stakeholders.
Communication - communicating to the Product Owner/ team so they can understand the reason why the bugs have been prioritised in a certain order. This can be at daily standups and/or reporting.
This also needs to be communicated to the stakeholder in language they can understand - esp if the bug is time critical and is impacting a large amount of users.
Attention to detail- knowing what conditions to replicate the bug, so you’re not holding up the process to make the decision. i.e. I get the conditions incorrect the first time, then having to redo the test again with changes, which then delays the before making a decision on which bugs go in before release. Time management also factors in here!
Collaboration - I often collab with our BA/Developers when assessing bugs, as they can give me another “pair of eyes” on the task, and give feedback on something I may have missed.
Nice question @sarahdeery ,
Here is my response below
Investigating a bug report:
Investigating bugs involves analyzing error logs, network properties, and the console.
Collaborating on a new feature:
Start by briefly discussing whether the story is a priority. If it is, the next step is to finalize the acceptance criteria with the BAs.
Conducting exploratory testing:
Exploratory testing requires a combination of skills such as critical thinking, domain knowledge, and risk assessment.
Prioritizing bugs for a release:
Yes, we prioritize critical functionality bugs to ensure the most impactful issues are addressed.
Which skills or traits do you find most valuable for completing these tasks?
Time management is essential to add test cases and complete the ticket while covering as many scenarios as possible. Continuous daily testing helps ensure the application remains stable.
Do you have any tips on developing these skills to help others in the community?
Never lose hope in spotting bugs. It can be challenging at times, but always keep in mind that finding bugs and identifying loopholes is a critical part of the process.
I would start by understanding the scope of the project because, without understanding, there won’t be clarity on what needs to be tested and what doesn’t; otherwise, it will be difficult for me to develop any strategy or any documentation.
So far I have worked on agile projects in which there is the possibility that requirements may change at the very last moment and at that moment analyze the impact of change and then again inform the stakeholders about the possible implications and whether to include the new functionality or not makes the release complicated.
The other benefit of having clarity with the requirement is that it helps in all sorts of testing including exploratory testing. If we are not clear on what we need to explore, then there is a chance that exploratory testing won’t be effective.
Apart from developers and product managers, peer discussion also helps, sometimes a different person’s perspective on the same functionality helps in realizing edge cases that might have been missed if we were testing based on the only thought processes.
Prioritization of not only bugs but also tasks and most importantly prioritizing testing over anything else. Because being testing prioritizing testing as top most task is very crucial.
