The habit of finding bugs
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I'll begin with this blog with an anecdote. Last week, I was going through an incidence published in a reputed magazine. The incidence has been sent by one of the reader of that magazine. I noticed one thing in that. I saw that that guy was claiming that Rs. 1000 note has been introduced in the Indian market in 1997. I was quite confused and discussed it with my family. Everybody said that he must be right as it is mentioned in the magazine. But I still have doubt. At that moment, I stopped the topic. On that night, I was not able to sleep properly as I was sure that the mentioned statement about Rs. 1000 note was somewhere wrong. I checked in internet and got this information that the Rs. 1000 currency has been introduced in Indian market 7 years back. Then only I felt cool and relaxed.

Now what is this? Why I am describing this incident? Is it worth?

Actually this is called the habit of finding bugs. I spent my professional life in testing and quality domain for more than 6 years and still in the same domain. I always tried my best to find bugs in the software. Now this is become a habit in my personal life also. In each and every aspect of life, I try to find bugs in it. Although I believe this is not a bad habit but I definitely want to get rid of this one at least in my personal life. I am used to check for the spelling mistakes in market area, inconsistencies in objects, quality measures in food stuffs, measure each and every task. And the list goes on and on and on.

Last year, I was in Silicon Valley of India. I went to a good hotel for a team lunch with other team members. There the management was too poor. I mean no one was taking care of anything. After having our lunch, when we were just going to leave, I have a chat with the hotel’s manager, who fortunately (or you can say unfortunately) came in front of me. When I said that you have n number of management loopholes in your area, he simply said that we are working on this and by next month, we will get the ISO certification. Then I though that whatever I said was definitely quality issues and those must be addressed for a proper quality work.

Now days, there is one more great advertisement that is being aired in Indian television. There is a product which is being endorsed by a great superstar of Indian film industry. In the advertisement itself, he is claiming that he is using this product from the last 40 years. But the fact is that the said product was launched only 7-8 years back.

One of the great definitions that I have encountered few days back about testing is “Testing means a procedure for critical evaluation”. I have found abundant bugs in my professional experience (and personal also) till date and still on my way. Some of my all time favorite bugs are spectacular crashes. They are fun to watch and rewarding to find.

Applying this into the test team, I believe that if my test team is positive, upbeat, and happy, I can almost guarantee that I've got the wrong people. You need a team to be critical, judgmental, and, well, negative. To be a good tester you've got to be pessimistic ("I know bugs are still in there somewhere"). You've got to be negative ("I'm not sure dev has implemented that functionality quite as well as they could have done"). If your testers are saying things like "I'm sure there aren't any bugs left," then you aren't dealing with a successful test team.

A couple of years back, I was serious when I do my work but I was not serious when I'm home with my family. But at present what is happening that I am more and more serious when I do my work and serious when I’m home with my family. This is because I am still finding bugs, inconsistencies and other quality related stuffs in my day to day life. But one thing I must say that this habit is really working for me in my professional life. And As I look forward, I'm very optimistic about the things I see ahead. I am dam sure that there's something good that will definitely come out of it.

-- Sanat Sharma