Every time I have started in a new position as a software tester, the story is always the same. The dance with HR is over… I have a rough idea of what the application does… I am reviewing existing tests to deepen my understanding… and IT will appear:
The monster clown of testing.
It feeds on your time. It feeds on your will to finish it… and it feels like it wants you to suffer.
It will be a long, detailed wall of text with every possible permutation of settings, some obvious… and sometimes the tentacles run so deep in would make Cthulu blush. It will take hours… sometimes days to complete. And if you are the unluckiest of testers you’ll be cornered by an ugly, despair-inducing monster of an error that MUST be addressed in the current sprint.
The problem is not the size of the test
The problem is not what it reveals.
The problem is that the test has to be rewritten.
Sometimes that nasty critter will lay eggs in your testing backlong and make dozens of slimy little new tests: test that should have been written out individually the first time.
Its too comprehensive.
Its too detailed.
Its so long that you have to write a special test just so you can communicate with the developer… adding to the already bloated corpse of the testing backlog.
Sometimes testers, in their zeal to be thorough will write a single test that tries to cover every detail. It feels like you are reading through a thick heavy horror novel where every detail seems to matter… but all you really care about is the one character who dies at the end.
What is more, if there is any kind of task tracking, your testers will be praying to the many-tentacled old gods of software testing that they do not get assigned that test… because if they do it will look they got only one test done in the same time someone else finished ten.
Individual tests should not be comprehensive.
When I stepped into a senior role as a tester and I had the freedom to pick my tools I found that testing does not need to feel like you are trapped in a horror story.
Tools that include reusable steps… Nested test suites… Reusable test plans.
These tools are out there, but for some reason QA teams seem to think that they have to stick to purely text-based testing.
Good tools are stakes to the heart of the time vampire.
Make sure your team has plenty when they go hunting for the monsters that go bump in your application.
When you wake up screaming to the nightmare of complete system crash no one wants to deal with a giant many-tentacled monster of a test.
You just want a flamethrower.
Get the tools for the job.
Simplify your tests.