Notes from a Meet Up | Building & Scaling A Test Driven Culture

Quality is owned and shared by everyone ...

It has been some 2 weeks since my last blog post - nature of the beast in the life of a QA Analyst - and I've since attended 3 Meet-Ups. If you've not heard of them, I highly recommend joining meet-up (meetup.com) and seek out QA Analyst / Testing groups.

This Meet-Up - establishing a test driven culture - was particularly informative. Here is a brief synopsis, lectured by the lead developer, going by the nickname "db":

Scope

The scope of a test-driven culture is to establish a mentality where there is a 2:1 ratio of test cases-to-code, such that each unit in the feature has been thoroughly tested before integration. Testing is in short, a continuous process from inception to deployment.

Ownership

In a test-driven culture, ownership is shared, and the environment encourages collaboration.

Technology

The technology employed in testing ought to be relevant to the project being tested. Artsy Developers favor open-source technologies. These technologies allow for efficient composition of test cases, continuous testing, and scalability as new features are added. In a test-driven culture, testing starts in tandem with development, not after.

Methodology

RSpec (rspec.info) is the choice method for establishing the testing library. In addition to the Input -> Response paradigm, additional dissection of test data (API) in a production environment is employed to yield real-time results (ex.: API calls are made, confirm response, verify side effect).

Scalability

Testing is run during the development of each unit / component. Continual testing is performed until each unit is bug-free. Then testing efforts are ramped up during integration. Further testing is done once entire project is fully integrated and ready for deployment. Test efforts must be scalable in response to change orders, scope creep, and any other unforseen circumstance.

Results

Signs of a test-driven culture include continuous improvement to test efforts, consistent remediation of issues found, efficient testing effort using the most current technologies, and the overall buy-in from upper-management.

Cost

The cost of failure is catastrophic once a product is live. The impact thereof include loss of revenue, loss of consumer confidence, client dissatisfaction, damage to reputation, and so on.

Conclusion

• For a true test culture to exist, testing needs to come as second-nature.
• While in production, user-reported issues can become fixes for the next iteration.
• Features in development start out as test cases and evolve to features.
• The truest measure of success for the project is that it works.
• Test-driven cultures do not rely on QA - the safety net is removed forcing Devs to own the quality of the code they write
• QA Analysts are encouraged to integrate with Developers and vice-versa

QA Humor: Vintage Social Networking ... and more

Vintage Social Networking

HDD Evolved

Panda Express

Thank you REDDIT - reddit.com - for reducing my productivity somewhat

Lesson Learned: Politics is N.S.F.QA

Warning! Politicians .. please avert your eyes to this post  as it may offend your sensibilities ... as most things tend to do

I wish to preface this post by wishing all of you - whatever denomination you may or may not be - a blessed holiday.

Having written this on the later days of Easter, I felt it appropriate to begin a new season by reflecting on the past.

It was some time ago that experienced first-hand the effects (positive and negative) of politics in the workplace.

Positive

If there can be some positive take-aways from the effects politics is that  forming the right alliances with the right people can be advantageous for both career growth and professional development. Its always best to surround yourself with people that are going to bring you up, not motivated to take you down. These people will nurture your professional growth and act as "mentors" that you may one day pay it forward.

Negative

Then there is the uglier side of politics. The "dark side" as it were that does more to impact personal and professional growth. These agents serve in the interest of themselves at the expense of others and mask their ineptitude in politics. I've seen first-hand how an entire department can suffer in performance when games are played. 

I've also seen how a lack of accountability, either from a fellow co-worker, or superior can cause strife, aggravation, and unnecessary duress. I'm not saying I'm perfect, and I've taken stock of the things I could have done better, but never once did I engage in any sort of political shenanigans to better my station.

Conclusion

In closing, I write this as a way to finally rid myself of the things in my past that have had a significant impact in my current endeavors. I can summarize this post by simply saying politics is not safe for QA. Politics get in the way of us effectively doing our job as primary defense against the hostile environs of production and mass consumption. Politics has no place in Quality Assurance, but sadly, it rears its ugly head when the quality of a product tested or service provided is impacted by external influences. And who gets the blame when it goes bad? ..... Exactly!

Thoughts?

QA Industry Survey

Where do you think QA is going?

This survey is now closed. To those who participated, Thank You!

App Submission Humor

Because I have awesome friends that share stuff with me all the time, enjoy:

• http://cs319420.vk.me/v319420472/5331/H1yQ_mLLEZM.jpg

QA Tool: Mind Map for iOS Testing

As promised, here's what a co-worker shared with me for iOS and I thought it was brilliant and I happily share with you - iOS Testing Mindmap - enjoy!

Lesson Learned: QA is NOT a verb !!

Dear Non-QA Managers, Analysts, and readers alike:

I wish to discuss the following pet peeve with the following scenario:

• Mgr: "Hi Team, I have a project that needs to be QA'd by end-of-day today. Whom can I assign for this?"

QA testers look to each other in wonderment, asking what is this "QA'd " word they speak of?


1. QA - the initials for Quality Assurance
2. Quality Assurance (v) - the act of ensuring the product / service is in compliance with the proposed scope of work, performs as expected, is approved by the Client, and fulfills the intent for users.

A project is not expected to be "QA'd" any more than planning it is to be "PM'd". I cringe a little when I hear it, but its become a buzz word synonymous with "tested".

I do apologize if this comes off petty, but I wanted to share my pet peeve as an Analyst serving at the behest of others. That, and the industry buzz words, like " Going Forward ".

What is your pet peeve? I'd love to read about it.