Summary
Testing should be fun, but it needs to be rigorous with clear results. In the field, it's typical to find testers only going through the motions of testing, without putting much thought into their tests. Testing requires critical thinking, both in creating and exercising the test. Without starting from good requirements, determining the best way to verify the requirement, examining the outcome found and understanding its implications, testing loses most of its value. To this end, consider using the scientific method to drive creating a testing strategy and plan, along with designing your test cases. The scientific method is a method of research where a problem is identified, data is gathered, a hypothesis is formulated, and then the hypothesis is tested. These actions in the scientific method align well with activities that testers should be performing. Max will walk through the stages of the scientific method, expanding on each one, talking a bit about each stage, and then how it relates to testing and the activities that can be drawn from it. He'll discuss how these patterns can be used to create a good overarching test strategy, with test plans resulting from it as well. Max will then talk about treating requirements as hypotheses, and how good test cases can be created from them, along with how identifying good test data is imperative to creating effective tests. Finally, he'll discuss the benefits to following a more rigorous process like the scientific method, and the benefits that come with it: improved quality, and confidence in what was testing, and that it was tested properly.
Key Takeaways:
Learn how to create good test strategies
Learn how to create good test plans
Develop useful test cases considering inter-dependencies and data.