Testing and PASSION

Come to think of it I never thought I would write a blog of my own. Even now the word "blog" sounds foreign, alien, like a bloated body full of unwanted growth I would not like to associate with or of being in the open with my thoughts on testing & what have you! This also seems like falling in cold water and conquering the twin fears of coping with cold water & staying afloat. But while swimming in cold icy water is far away from my mind - I am somehow ready to blog. And I promise myself that I will blog and publish words of substance. My first thoughts on testing really starts with Passion!!

I think Passion goes hand in hand with good testing or what good testers need to have in them (besides a host of other must-haves - more of that later) to find that extra defect at the end of a very hard day or ask that question to the subject matter experts which others think silly or to dig extra deep within oneself probably and even while alone in the office with darkness around & the coffee on your desk cold and dead and all this just for one's name against a defect with whatever severity.


Yes Passion or dare I say PASSION. Passion for the colour which is not quite correct on that screen, that missed alignment which hurts readability, that error message straight out of the developers mind totally oblivious of the plight of the user or the dandruff which will litter the keyboard when the user scratches his head.

Passion matters big-time in testing.

Passion is often seen when the smitten person talks - in the eyes, words chosen, hands flailing or cutting the air from time to time, the intonations, writings and so on... In short you can feel some heat in his/her presence and if you are passionate yourself you enjoy the company. I do.

I think Passion in a testing professional will gets her ahead in terms of the fire within to:

• know the domain deeper and faster probably before any one else;
• ask questions and probably lots of them to get beyond what is implicit in the spec.;
• challenge the developer in terms of how that feature ought to be and how the end-user would like it seen;
• grit your teeth and test and find defects when others gave a verdict about the relative 'stability' of the component/application tested many times before
• say 'Not good enough' with conviction (and with justification) to the domineering come-what-may manager who wants the animal out now
• create a atmosphere within the team and charge it such that everyone contributes.

Yes - Passion - go find it!

image credit: matthew fang