Which thinking style improves your testing the most: questioning, doubting, or observing?

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Check out my MoT article, “Lessons for software testers from three great Western philosophers,” to explore how ideas from Socrates, Descartes, and Aristotle can strengthen how we think as testers.

What you’ll learn:

  • How Socrates’ questioning mindset helps us challenge assumptions and uncover hidden risks
  • How Descartes’ structured doubt encourages scepticism and prevents confirmation bias
  • How Aristotle’s empirical observation supports evidence-based testing
  • How philosophical thinking can sharpen your testing decisions and improve the quality of your insights
  • Simple ways to bring deeper thinking into your everyday testing

After reading, share your thoughts:

  • Where in your testing do you use questioning, doubt, or observation?
  • Which philosopher’s mindset do you naturally lean towards: the questioner, the doubter, or the observer?
  • How do you “think about your thinking” when testing something complex or unclear?
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Great article! Shared with my team as well.

It is really difficult to put into words what we do day in and day out, especially when you have been doing it a long time and it has become second nature. I think this sums it up really well. I like how it talks more about the general approach of quality, not just testing. Being Head of Quality I have raised my testing one level higher and look at the overall product, processes between teams, quality processes within teams and what our testing strategy looks like, asking these questions of those areas. Due to this mindset, I have also helped with many other things, like support processes, incident processes, and release processes. Being able to reflect and question things in a tactiful way can help in many different areas.

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