The diary of a Tester by Russell T. Webber

The Diary of a Tester is written by Russell T. Webber - A Test Consultant who works as a contractor for various blue chip
companies on a variety of testing projects. Possessing a wicked sense of humour, Russell's writing is a reflection of his thoughts as he goes about the business of testing on each of his assignments.

Excerpts...

Tuesday 25th June 2007

...Its been crazy down here this last week, Lily had been off on bereavement leave having suffered a loss in the family. The team took her out for lunch last Friday to cheer her up and that ended up a total disaster, but we'll talk about that later.

2 new testers have started with us this week, one is called Wole (pronounced "woll-ay") and Derek keeps calling him Wally which hasn't gone down well at all. Wole keeps pointing out that he can pronounce Derek Bickersteth-Jones quite clearly.

Wednesday 27 th June 2007

...Now about last Friday's disastrous lunch - We had all gone to Shiraz (the local curry house) and as you do everyone began talking about what kind of animals they had or hadn't eaten. As usual we started off with the guy who hadn't tasted any form of flesh for 30 years (although someone pointed out that he might not have been eating animals but he sure was wearing them) and then we went on to Adam who during a recent trip to Kenya had eaten a bit of Giraffe, then the range got a bit more exotic.

I knew we were in trouble when the list grew steadily to include snakes, crocodiles, crickets, antelopes, monkeys and snails.and then straight out of the blue one of the new guys explained to us that he regularly indulged in the consumption of Dogs.yes Dogs, man's best friend. I took one look at him and thought to myself - you are in so much trouble!! I looked out of the corner of my eye at Lily, she had gone deathly pale. You see lily's bereavement leave was because she had lost Bono her dog who was the only family she ever had and as if that wasn't bad enough the dog's corpse had disappeared.

Somehow I couldn't see our new guy's contract being extended!!

Friday 29th June 2007

...Its been 6 months since we started working with AGILE - the latest fad in Software development methodology (not that its really that new anyway)
My conclusion? There seems to be an awful amount of confusion around. Everyone seems to fancy themselves as experts.

Well here's my widows mite..

Agile Development Methodology

Agile methods for software application development seek to provide a simple, working system as soon as possible and to evolve that system through continual customer feedback based on personal communication.

Due to its iterative nature, the Agile model reduces the number of defects discovered at the late stages of development and subsequently the testing stage. It considerably lessens the time spent on fixing defects and taking them through the usual, lengthy release management process during later test cycles.

Typically defects raised within the Agile environment have a 24 hour turnaround repair period! Risks are reduced by developing software in short time-boxes from one and four weeks. Each iteration is treated like a mini software project and normally consists of all the major tasks within the development cycle (i.e. planning, requirements specification/analysis, design, build, test and documentation).

These techniques focusing on a "get it right the first time" vision, place a high value on customer collaboration, over documentation.

Most agile teams are located in a common working area (physically) and include all the individuals required to develop the software.

• Developers/Programmers
• Business experts (the individuals who define the product; e.g. product managers, business analysts, or actual customers who may eventually evolve into Testers)
• Testers - who are involved from the onset (i.e. the requirements definition stage through to completion and Go Live.

It is worth noting that Agile methods lay emphasis on working software as the primary measure of progress.

Readers' comments

"I've really enjoyed reading this and love the idea of it appearing more regularly and soon - this is not because I have nothing better to do,
but because the witty accounts of Russell Webber sometimes help get me through the rest of the day."
- Joseph Winters, London

"Every fortnight like clock work, I wait expectantly for Russell's adventures to be delivered to my desktop!!"
- Maureen Cole, Reading

"He's utterly mad, this Russell Webber person"
- Lanre Balogun, Swindon

  "I particularly like the interjection of little, wise and interesting professional tips"
- Mary Eke, Basildon

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