41
votes
Should bugs found by exploratory test methods be taken against QA?
I think the first big problem here is the attempt to assign blame. In accident reports, the FAA doesn't start with who to blame, they start with what went wrong and what were the causal factors. ...
- 501
34
votes
Should QA ask developers for requirements?
No. Requirements should be originated from a single point. Your developers might misunderstand something so that you'll be testing not what your stakeholders require but what your developers ...
- 11.6k
27
votes
Accepted
QA gets all the work at the end of the sprint
Get the whole team to work on the problem.
Given the arrangement you've discussed clearly the team needs to look at options to resolve this. The problem itself seems fairly endemic in all of the ...
- 25.1k
23
votes
How can developers improve relations with testers?
Good and Interesting question.
Here are some to make the tester's job easier:
Developers should perform basic testing before giving the product to the tester.
Include QA from the beginning of the ...
- 2,524
19
votes
How to convince project managers that onboarding a tester early is important?
In this situation - unfortunately - your best option is the slow and painful method. I've used it as a general tester, and for test automation.
The way I approach this is to use these techniques:
...
- 31.5k
15
votes
When does the testing phase start in a project
When a new project development starts in an organization when does the testing role come in?
It depends.
It depends on the company, industry, development approach, etc.
Two commonly referred to ...
- 25.1k
14
votes
How can developers improve relations with testers?
Treat them as equals.
I have seen a lot of developers thinking they are more or better then testers in their companies and also treat them that way. Developers and testers have a similar goal: Making ...
- 32.5k
13
votes
How can developers improve relations with testers?
I've worked in both roles for a while and my recommendation is:
Pair (before coding when possible) on test plans
See QA as an asset that is protecting you and customers from the mistakes we all make
...
- 25.1k
13
votes
How can developers improve relations with testers?
Just a few quick ones off the top of my head:
Run the code they've completed at least once on their machine before marking it as 'Done'.
Consult with QA on their intended route to implement a feature ...
- 296
13
votes
How to deal with a lead developer who questions every action or process suggested by QA lead?
I think this is a delicate topic in the software industry, one that I have experienced in the past.
Essentially what I did was have a one-on-one conversation with the person and tried to bring it up ...
- 1,190
13
votes
Should bugs found by exploratory test methods be taken against QA?
There can be a several reasons for test cases for bugs found later during exploratory testing not being identified during the project planning phase.
Couple of them may be,
Testers are humans. To err ...
- 8,921
12
votes
Asking UI developers to adjust markup to improve automated tests
My preference is to turn this into a team discussion with the goal of getting coding standards in place that require test-friendly locators to be used.
There can be resistance to changing the ...
- 31.5k
12
votes
Is software testing different when we are dealing with game development?
In game testing, a tester focuses mainly on the following points (from Johan Hoberg's blog):
Fun Factor Testing
Balance Testing
Game Level/World Testing
AI Testing
Multiplayer/Network ...
- 5,601
10
votes
Separate QA v.s. Scrum Team Member - How should QA be involved?
My ex-client went through a very similar thing. When I started, QA weren't invited to walkthroughs, project meetings, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, etc., and developers were estimating the time ...
- 2,508
10
votes
Accepted
Signal to noise ratio during early testing
Greater communication between dev and qa so that qa already knows about wip issues.
Communicate first in person where there is disagreement, then document the agreement.
Clear definition on what ...
- 25.1k
10
votes
Should bugs found by exploratory test methods be taken against QA?
First, the previous answers are good and bring up different view points to consider.
I agree that management shouldn't be finding ways to blame QA for missing bugs or finding bugs in unexpected, ...
- 1,923
9
votes
How to deal with a lead developer who questions every action or process suggested by QA lead?
I've seen this pattern in nearly every shop with qa/qe and engineers. My advice from being a dev for 20 years and now a qa engineer for 5 years:
This is a practice that programmers actually do with ...
- 25.1k
9
votes
Accepted
How to deal with a lead developer who questions every action or process suggested by QA lead?
Emphasis added:
There have been situations where the Devs and the QAs ask questions about this same process. And I always jump in to clarify when this happens. Since I have been there, done that. ...
- 215
9
votes
Asking UI developers to adjust markup to improve automated tests
Personally, I do not think making a request via Jira instead of via Slack would make any difference despite Jira being more formal and having more publicity and visibility.
My personal suggestion is:
...
- 9,922
8
votes
Accepted
Why testing is not a stand alone activity
Testing is not a standalone activity because:
resolving bugs means talking with product and development to make sure that the bugs are well understood and that the path to correct them makes sense ...
- 25.1k
8
votes
Separate QA v.s. Scrum Team Member - How should QA be involved?
I've been there. This is my experience:
Start with - Review all the documentation you're given. Chances are good something critical has been overlooked because Project Managers tend to focus only on ...
- 31.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Asking UI developers to adjust markup to improve automated tests
I had exactly this discussion with our developers recently, and I do not have satisfactory solution.
My situation was complicated by the fact that (for our Angular-based pages) some tests are ...
8
votes
QA gets all the work at the end of the sprint
Great Communication Brings Great Results
Being last in line, QAs keep facing this repetitively. QA should proactively communicate delays and respective risks to stakeholders.
I’ve never seen any agile ...
- 1,835
7
votes
How can developers improve relations with testers?
This is a simple point, but very effective:
Be a developer who says "thanks" or "good catch!" or something positive whenever a tester finds a defect.
It's the daily currency of the respectful ...
- 171
7
votes
How to organize a QA Process/Department?
There are some major red flags here.
You're only going to any testing after development is completely done? If this is development of a single feature, that's fine. If this is for an entire sprint ...
- 7,092
7
votes
Should QA ask developers for requirements?
I wouldn't say it's "good practice" to ask the developers for requirements, as they'll have their own interpretation of them.
If possible, always try and get your requirements from the business ...
- 2,508
7
votes
What are good practices for improving quality in a project new to me?
Start with understanding what works:
What data is valid ?
What data is used ?
What is successful ?
What are the variations ?
What are the users like ?
What are the long term business goals ?
What are ...
- 25.1k
7
votes
Should bugs found by exploratory test methods be taken against QA?
I think your tittle can also read "should we blame QA for finding bugs?", to which I hope no one replies yes, although I'm not so certain about the management in your organisation.
You got ...
- 4,538
6
votes
How can developers improve relations with testers?
To start off, have a positive attitude towards tester's activities & identified issues
Provide unit + dev-smoke tested builds to QA
Share release notes with info like included fixes, features and ...
- 843
6
votes
Means of Quantification of QA impact
By the success of the company.
Buy-in for QA will need to come from the top rather then the justification being looked for in data.
You will, over time, be able to point to things like
some major ...
- 25.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible