I’ve started commuting to work again, which means I’ve also started started listening to podcasts again. Last night, I was listening to the latest episode of the Testing Peers podcast which was focused on the Testing Mindset. It was an interesting discussion, and prompted me to write down my own thoughts about the topic.
I don’t think a testing mindset is something that can be distinctly defined. I also believe that is something that develops over time and is constantly changing. However, a good testing mindset can only develop within the correct environment. If working within a team that encourages creativity, curiosity, exploration and out-of-the-box thinking, then a testing mindset can easily develop. However, environments that discourage such activities may cause harm to a testing mindset.
While studying at university, software testing was never a career path I intended to get into. It wasn’t even a career path I knew existed. Simon Prior, one of the hosts of the Testing Peers podcast, frequently talks about how few universities include software testing in their curriculum. I don’t think I had any sort of testing mindset when I started my first software testing role. I remember sitting at my desk on my first day, with no idea what to do. I was given a link to a website the team was working on and told to ‘try and break it’. While I think this statement shows a distinct lack of understanding of what testers do (we do not just break stuff), it did give me the freedom to investigate and learn more about the website. I started out by working my way through each page of the website, understanding what it does, and checking to see if it worked the way I think it should work. Even though my instructions were to ‘try and break it’, my personal aim was to learn as much about the website as possible. I did find bugs, which was to be expected as the website was in the early stages of development.
Looking back, I think this was a successful first day of post-graduate employment. The exercise was a great way to develop my exploratory testing skills (at the time I didn’t know that this is what I was doing). Over time, new skills were developed and I even achieved the ISTQB Foundation Tester qualification. Skills and qualifications don’t make the Testing Mindset, but they certainly contribute to our way of thinking.
The testing mindset is definitely something that constantly changes. It will change when we move to a different team or organisation. It will be influenced by those we work with. Every software tester out there will have different views on how to approach a task, and the approach they choose today won’t necessarily be the approach they choose tomorrow. I’m certainly not the same tester I was when I started out in testing 8 years ago.
Louise Gibbs - Software Tester 