“Testers or Beggars”

What would you call a Test Team who himself is asking for the release to be passed on to them so that they can perform testing on it and can justify their salaries?

I believe you are confused. But please don’t be.
This is something very rare in software industry. Recently, one of my friends, working in a big multinational MNC, asked me that what he should do if the development team doesn’t want to pass on the release to them? I simply asked him to tell me three reasons, as per his mindset, that why this is happening. We have a lot of discussions after that but finally, we came up with something which was definitely a true picture of the mindset of a development team who is doing this rubbish act. After having a good brainstorming in all the aspects, we have categorized the following six points

1. They are not aware of what is the purpose and meaning of Testing.

2. They are feeling scary about bugs which the Testing team will find after providing the release to them.

3. They himself are not clear of what they have developed?

4. Since development cycle has expanded, the Testing cycle shrinks.

5. They are simply undergoing in frustration with the Testing team.

6. Management is not interested in Testing activities and believes it to be an overhead activity.

Now, after identifying these six points, I played a game with my friend. The game was very well known - “Who wants to be billionaire”. (In Hindi, “कौन बनेगा करोरपति”). I asked him to select the best option from all these points that what he thinks best suits for his team. But what he said was truly amazing and shocking. He has not selected any of the options and told me another option. And that was “All of the above”.

It was the challenge now for me to continue the discussion with that person. Still I am summarizing the solutions and the action items against each of the above mentioned points.

1. (They are not aware of what is the purpose and meaning of Testing?) -We should educate our self before saying that development is not clear with the purpose and meaning of Testing. It is the responsibility of the Testing Manager to aware and convinces them with the positives of the testing phase in the SDLC. So better to educate yourself before you educate someone else.

2. (They are feeling scary about bugs which the Testing team will find after providing the release to them.) -We should convince them that bugs will come in any software if it is being developed by the human beings. If they consider themselves as human beings, they should be open to accept the bugs. Also the bugs filed by the test team are on the product, not on the developer. Development managers’ attitude towards the bugs will also play a major role in this point.

3. (They himself are not clear of what they have developed?) -This is something which is very unrealistic. If the development is not clear about what they have developed, better not to develop the product. And if this is very harsh (that I have said), the much better is that testing team should refuse to test the release.

4. (Since development cycle has expanded, the Testing cycle shrinks.) -One of the most common and foolish point that the testing team is facing now a days. It happens something like

· Total Development Effort = 20 Days
· Total Testing Effort = 7 Days
· Total Effort (Development + Testing) = 27

On 15th day of the development phase, the new efforts will be

· Total Development Effort = 23 Days
· Total Testing Effort = 4 Days
· Total Effort (Development + Testing) = 27

On 22nd day of the development phase, the new efforts will be

· Total Development Effort = 25 Days
· Total Testing Effort = 2 Days
· Total Effort (Development + Testing) = 27

Finally, testing team has been allocated 2 days to test the release. And on top of it, the release will be passed to the testing team at evening of the 1st day and topmost of it is that the Release Description Document will be provided to the test team on the 2nd day evening.
The work around of this issue is to discuss the testing efforts with the client also and educate them about the testing phase in the SDLC cycle. This cannot be (and will not be) done by the development managers. So better to initiate this thread by yourself.

5. (They are simply undergoing in frustration with the Testing team.) -This depends on the previous experience of the development team. What is happening is because of what already has happened. So better to investigate a little bit of what has happened in the past and try not to repeat those actions. Sometimes a road less traveled is less traveled for some reasons. We should recognize the source of their irritation and change our own response.

6. (Management is not interested in testing activities and believes it to be an overhead activity.) -Change the management completely who is under impression that testing is an overhead activity, if possible. If not, start believing in God. He will help you and will show you some way to get out of it.

-- Sanat Sharma