Using Quality Characteristics for Powerful Testing and Reporting
Tutorial L Start Time : 08:30 End Time : 12:30
* Please note this tutorial is now fully booked *
Talk Abstract:
The definition of testing that I use is “testing is an empirical, technical investigation of a product, done on behalf of stakeholders, with the intention of revealing quality-related information” (Cem Kaner).
For many years, this has been a guide for me. And I often remind myself in projects by going back to the definition and reflect on it. Have I really understood who the stakeholders are? Do I know what they value? Are my test strategies aligned with that? What information can I give them? Reflecting on qualities and values is an approach that (hopefully) will give you new or more powerful test ideas. And it will also be a reminder to you that you might need to adjust your message and tell a compelling story that a stakeholder can understand.
If your main input to your testing is user stories, you should consider ways to vary your testing and base it on other things. In this tutorial you will learn one way of accomplishing this diversification. The tutorial is composed of hands-on practices that will be introduced by short theory passes. You will be working in pairs in all practises, so bring your laptop and an open mind.
Part 1 – Understanding the animal
Analysing quality characteristics of a product in a specific context, in order to come up with reasonable and valid values that the product would possess. We will use heuristic models during the analysis and use the outcome for the upcoming steps.
Part 2 – Investigation party
Based on the quality characteristic analysis, we will focus on some of them and use them as a driver for our testing. When doing this, it will become clear that we are not only looking for bugs. We are quality investigators that are looking for both values and threats to the values.
Part 3 – Tell the story
Testing is never better than the communication of the results.
In the last part of the tutorial, we will practice on how to tell a story of the product, based on the quality characteristics that we have investigated.
This tutorial would be more beneficial bringing a laptop. It is OK if some can’t – but the group exercises will benefit from having more than one laptop per group.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn how to bring in new aspects to your testing
- Hands-on practices that you can share with your colleagues
- Remembering that testing is never better than the communication of the results
Speaker
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Co-Speaker
Rikard Edgren describes himself as a humanistic and technical tester since 1998, specialized in generalities like test strategy and exploratory testing. Thus far Rikard has had eight speaking appearances at EuroSTAR and was a winner of the Best Conference Tutorial Award in 2014, and Programme Chair in 2018. Rikard is a member of the think-tank The Test Eye, co-author of Software Quality Characteristics, author of The Little Black Book on Test Design and Den Lilla Svarta om Teststrategi and a contributor the EuroSTAR’s recent publication ‘The Little Book of Testing Wisdom‘. Rikard currently works as Test expert at Nordic Medtest, Karlstad, Sweden, working with Swedish healthcare infrastructure.

Tutorial L Start Time : 08:30 End Time : 12:30
* Please note this tutorial is now fully booked *
Talk Abstract:
The definition of testing that I use is “testing is an empirical, technical investigation of a product, done on behalf of stakeholders, with the intention of revealing quality-related information” (Cem Kaner).
For many years, this has been a guide for me. And I often remind myself in projects by going back to the definition and reflect on it. Have I really understood who the stakeholders are? Do I know what they value? Are my test strategies aligned with that? What information can I give them? Reflecting on qualities and values is an approach that (hopefully) will give you new or more powerful test ideas. And it will also be a reminder to you that you might need to adjust your message and tell a compelling story that a stakeholder can understand.
If your main input to your testing is user stories, you should consider ways to vary your testing and base it on other things. In this tutorial you will learn one way of accomplishing this diversification. The tutorial is composed of hands-on practices that will be introduced by short theory passes. You will be working in pairs in all practises, so bring your laptop and an open mind.
Part 1 – Understanding the animal
Analysing quality characteristics of a product in a specific context, in order to come up with reasonable and valid values that the product would possess. We will use heuristic models during the analysis and use the outcome for the upcoming steps.
Part 2 – Investigation party
Based on the quality characteristic analysis, we will focus on some of them and use them as a driver for our testing. When doing this, it will become clear that we are not only looking for bugs. We are quality investigators that are looking for both values and threats to the values.
Part 3 – Tell the story
Testing is never better than the communication of the results.
In the last part of the tutorial, we will practice on how to tell a story of the product, based on the quality characteristics that we have investigated.
This tutorial would be more beneficial bringing a laptop. It is OK if some can’t – but the group exercises will benefit from having more than one laptop per group.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn how to bring in new aspects to your testing
- Hands-on practices that you can share with your colleagues
- Remembering that testing is never better than the communication of the results
Speaker
Co-Speaker
Rikard Edgren describes himself as a humanistic and technical tester since 1998, specialized in generalities like test strategy and exploratory testing. Thus far Rikard has had eight speaking appearances at EuroSTAR and was a winner of the Best Conference Tutorial Award in 2014, and Programme Chair in 2018. Rikard is a member of the think-tank The Test Eye, co-author of Software Quality Characteristics, author of The Little Black Book on Test Design and Den Lilla Svarta om Teststrategi and a contributor the EuroSTAR’s recent publication ‘The Little Book of Testing Wisdom‘. Rikard currently works as Test expert at Nordic Medtest, Karlstad, Sweden, working with Swedish healthcare infrastructure.