The worst practices of software testing

Viktor Slavchev &

The Testing troll
Siteground
About me

Senior QA @ Siteground Hosting

Wooden philosopher at Pragmatic
(part time)
Blogger @ mrslavchev.com(long
time ago in a galaxy far far away)
True believer that testing is a
human centric activity
About The testing troll

A mythical testing creature

Graduated the technical
university of Trolandia
Certified as SHGMCNGTT -
Super Hyper Giga Mega
Certified Ninja Guru Testing
troll
Book author
And the book:

Absolute bestseller
Sold more copies than 50
shades of gray in Trolandia
Absolutely mind-blowing
New York Times
The troll is strong with this
one
Darth Vader
Best practice#1 - Rely on requirements
and documentation
Worst practice #1:
Learn about the real testing oracles
instead

Testing oracles can benefit from:

Feelings and mental models

It starts as a feeling
Not sufficient for a
bug report
Artifacts: documents, designs,
requirements, etc.
Experience in:

The domain
General testing
Software industry
Conference

Developers
Other testers
Clients
Anyone who
matters
Example 1: Reference oracle
External application
Other platform
Correctness presumed
Example 2: Self-verifying data as an
oracle
Desired response: Credit card #:

000: Approved 4470330769941000

010: Partially Approved 4658512425423010

110: Insufficient Funds 4488282659650110
Example 3: Constraints oracle

Example: VAT number

BG123456789
Length
Country index
Spaces
Source:The Oracle Problem and the Teaching of Software
Testing
Best practice#2 - Do regression
testing by executing your old tests

Regression testing != repetitive testing

Repetitive testing is the reason why
others see testing like this...
Worst practice #2:
Regression checks and focus on tests
that reveal new information

Regress - verb
to move backward; go back.
to revert to an earlier or less advanced
state or form
Regression bug:
Bug causing regress in
quality

Regression testing:
Testing to expose
regression bugs
Regression check:
Building part of a test
Definite answer
Small and easy to
manage

Focus on information
Best practice#3 - Automationion testing is
the best, manual testing sucks
Quote from J. Kohl - Tap into mobile
application testing
Ideas that will produce
bug-free software:
C++ STL
OOP
Agile
TDD
Test automation
Quote from J. Kohl - Tap into mobile
application testing

Each of these were also used to tell me

that testers would no longer be
needed on software projects. So far, I
am fifteen years in and I havent seen
anything bug free yet.
Can a testing tool produce better
testers?
Answer:
How to make efficient automation that
provides value to testing?
The answer is:
Worst practice #3:
Use automation as a tool

To extend your abilities

Not to replace you
completely
To ask the right
questions
Automation is great for:
Confirmation /
Verification
Low level checking
Precision
Functional correctness
Solving machine
problems
But automation sucks when dealing
with:
Exploration
Unanticipated risks
Qualitative evaluation
Open ended questions
Solving human
problems
Source:Things Could Get Worse-
Michael Bolton
Source: The non-manual, unautomated tester
Best practice#4 - Assure quality

Quality is not a resource

Quality != testing
Worst practice #4:
Provide information about risks

Risk based testing -

focus testing to explore
potential risks
Nightmare newspaper headings
You missed a critical
bug in production
It caused your
company a huge
financial loss
What would it be?
 Pre-mortem - imagining a failure and
working backwards in order to
determine the possible risks.
Benefits:
Evaluation of risks
Business perspective
Prioritization
Best practice#5 - Follow best practices
Worst practice #5:
Be always alert and aware of your
context
What would be your
approach in 3 different
contexts?
Context #1: Weather app

Youre an outsourced
testing expert
Working for a start-up
Low on budget
Behind schedule
Context #2: Medical software

High precision is a must

Human lives might
depend on it
Regulatory compliance
of testing
Context #3: Court case

Bug caused an injury

You are independant
expert
On a case for negligence
in testing
Questions:
How exhaustive will be
your testing in each
context?
Will bug-hunting be your
highest priority?
Will you have the same
strategy of testing?
Conclusion

No best practices!
We are not into the
belief business J.Bach
In order to be a good
tester, you have to be a
professional sceptic
Thank you very much!

And dont forget to Rock n Troll

Image credits:

Too lazy to post them all.

Image credits go to the almighty internet, I dont own
any of the images included in this presentation, except
the ones created by me, linked to my blog.
ANY

STIONS?