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Keynote 1

My Essence of Testing: Understanding Relations

Rikard Edgren

09:15-10:15 CEST Wednesday 8th June

I guess many of you work in a situation where quality is important and there is not enough time to make all the tests you would like.

Testing is a sampling business and after 23 years in software testing I often find it more difficult than it used to be. At the same time, with experience I can find more important information faster, and I change my mind more easily when the current methods are no longer the best.

For me, this has all to do with my understanding of software, of testing, of my domain health care, and the concrete situation I am working in. A recent insight is that I cannot understand one thing in isolation, it is the relation between a system, its users, technology, integrations, data, laws, stakeholders etc. that generates a real understanding.

For me, this becomes a mess of models that I find difficult to explain in a good way. But I can share some of my methods and learnings over the years:

  • Continuous learning takes unexpected paths
  • Testing is not an island, everything is connected
  • 37 sources for test ideas creates more relations
  • Invisible, overlapping models make good testers lucky

 

I hope some of this might be useful to you, or at least that you become more comfortable with the feeling that testing is difficult, and should be. My goal of testing is to communicate useful information, not only by verifying requirements, but also by understanding relations and providing new perspectives.