Few weeks back, I wrote a post on preventing the defects by asking right questions.
This article is an extension of my previous article with few more real world examples highlighting the right set questions to be asked to conduct an effective testing.
Typically, our brain is trained to ask direct questions which comes with a straight-forward reply. For example, if the signup form is removed from an application, a tester might ask, “How can I create an account now?” The developer would respond with a solution like, “Use a database query to add a user directly, and then log in with those credentials.” We often never give a second thought to such responses and we accept it as right way of testing the changes.
Do you see a problem here?
If you’ve read Thinking, Fast and Slow, you’d know that our brain have a tendency to respond quickly using System 1 which is fast, intuitive, but often irrational part of our thinking. This tendency generally overlooks the critical details when we answer straightforward questions. In the case of direct questions, as above, the developer’s response may technically be correct. However, our rational to ask that question was never to just create the user. Most of the time, we QAs ask such question to frame our testing plan and accordingly we design our exploratory testing scenarios.
Hence, the real issue lies in the way the question was asked by us.
Instead of asking “How can I create an account now that the signup form has been removed?”, we should have specified, “How will end-users create a new account now that the signup form has been removed?” This very small shift in framing would given a more practical response, which would ensure that we don’t miss critical defect because of unawareness of the real change.
End User is Always the Focus
Keeping aside technical nuances, getting help, or conceptual understanding, the primary focus of a QA should always be on the end-users. Any small change our team does affects the end-user so a QA should always be concerned about the impacts on end-user and not the hacks to quickly move on to the next task. Ensure, you ask the right questions to discover the details impacting users that you would like to test.
- Yes/No close ended questions should be avoided in every conversation where QA is concern. Yes/No answers only let you know what you wanted to know, but testing is only about knowing what we know. Rather, we should be knowing the unknowns.
- Adopting an exploratory mindset and digging dip uncovers many potential issues. This is the first step to begin with exploratory testing and an effective way to discover potential issues before even putting your hands in real testing.
- Understand the rationale behind the change beforehand, if possible. This knowledge powers you to ask insightful questions that go beyond basic validation and challenge any deviation in plan effectively.
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