My presentation from the 2014 Next Generation Testing conference. Testing As An Activity, and Why We Should All Let Go a LIttle.

1. TESTING AS AN
ACTIVITY
AND WHY WE ALL NEED TO LET GO A LITTLE…
© Stephen Janaway 2014

2. WHO AM I?
STEPHEN JANAWAY
• Testing for the last 14 years.
• Mobile phones, mobile networks, mobile
applications, web and web services.
• Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Net-a-Porter Group.
www.stephenjanaway.co.uk @stephenjanaway
© Stephen Janaway 2014

3. THANKS TO….
• Elisabeth Hendrickson.
• Ben Kelly.
• James Bach.
• Jerry Weinberg.
• Michael Bolton.
• And many more….
© Stephen Janaway 2014

4. WHAT IS AN ACTIVITY?
ac·tiv·i·ty
1. The state of being active.
2. Energetic action or movement; liveliness.
3.
• A specified pursuit in which a person partakes.
• An educational process or procedure intended to stimulate
learning through actual experience.
4. The intensity of a radioactive source.
5. The ability to take part in a chemical reaction.
© Stephen Janaway 2014

5. WHY?
THE WORLD IS CHANGING
© Stephen Janaway 2014

6. “TESTERS TEST
AND
PROGRAMMERS
CODE”
© Stephen Janaway 2014

7. TESTING VS.
CHECKING
© Stephen Janaway 2014

8. HOW DID WE GET
HERE?
1958 - First software test team (Weinberg) - Project Mercury.
1968 - NATO report mentions Software Quality Assurance.
1968 - “Testing shows the presence, not the absence of bugs” - Edsger Dijkstra.
1976 - Software Reliability, Principles and Practices (Myers) published.
1979 - The Art of Software Testing (Myers) published.
1982 - Out of the Crisis (Deming)- “Quality must be defined in terms of customer
satisfaction”.
1988 - Exploratory testing introduced (Kaner).
1996 - Heuristic Test Strategy Model (Bach).
1999 - Context-Driven Testing (Bach a.o.) - 'The value of any practice depends on its
context'.
2001 - Agile Manifesto is published..
2002 - Test-Driven Development (Beck) - Test Driven Development: By Example.
2009 - Testing vs. Checking (Bolton).
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOFTWARE TESTING
WWW.TESTINGREFERENCES.COM/TESTINGHISTORY.PHP

9. SOFTWARE RELIABILITY:
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
(MYERS)
“The goal of the testers is to make the
program fail”
“Developers shouldn’t ever test their own
code”
© Stephen Janaway 2014

10. INSERT GOAL PICTURE
HERE
© Stephen Janaway 2014

12. HOW HAS THAT
MADE US FEEL?
© Stephen Janaway 2014

13. AUTOMATION – A
PERSONAL STORY
© Stephen Janaway 2014

14. TESTING AS AN
ACTIVITY
© Stephen Janaway 2014

15. IT’S ALL ABOUT
COLLABORATION
• Using the right people to do the right things.
• Pairing.
• Training.
• Supporting.
• Shared responsibility.
• NOT BEING THE QUALITY POLICE.
© Stephen Janaway 2014

16. TESTERS DO NOT
OWN QUALITY
© Stephen Janaway 2014

17. SO WHAT’S
STOPPING US?
© Stephen Janaway 2014

18. FEAR
OF JOB SECURITY?
OF A LOSS OF QUALITY?
© Stephen Janaway 2014

19. BELIEFS
THREATENED?
© Stephen Janaway 2014

20. “TESTING AS
AN ACTIVITY”
!=
“NO MORE
TESTERS”
© Stephen Janaway 2014

21. TESTERS
ENABLE TEAMS
TO OWN
QUALITY
© Stephen Janaway 2014

22. THE FUTURE…
© Stephen Janaway 2014

23. THE TESTING ROLE
IS NOT GOING
AWAY
© Stephen Janaway 2014

24. TESTING IS A
PERFORMANCE
JAMES BACH
© Stephen Janaway 2014

25. QUESTIONS
“THERE IS AN (UNFORTUNATE) BELIEF THAT TESTERS TEST,
PROGRAMMERS CODE, AND THE SEPARATION OF THE TWO
DISCIPLINES IS IMPORTANT...”
ELISABETH HENDRICKSON
STEPHEN JANAWAY
@stephenjanaway
www.stephenjanaway.co.uk
© Stephen Janaway 2014