On Oct 16, 2009, at 3:22 PM, ambrose little wrote:
How else are the testers
supposed to know what to expect when a button is pressed, etc.?
If the interface doesn't make this clear, you failed. If you're
starting
from a functional spec, I'm not surprised this is a problem.
Think about it this way. If someone who is, theoretically, as
computer and
system savvy as a QA tester can't understand from your interface
what is
supposed to happen when a button is pushed, how in tarnation are
your users
supposed to figure it out? Are you going to make your users read the
functional specs in order to interact with the system?
There are two levels here to be considered:
* At a gross level, this is completely true. As a tester, I had
better not need an additional document to figure out what that button
will do (in general), or where to find the Save command.
* But that's only at the gross level. If there are any subtleties,
any enhanced behaviors, anything special to the controls or the
behaviors or the application, then they had better be detailed if you
expect me to test them. (And if you expect the developer to code
them.) They can't read your mind, and QA can't read either of your
minds. If you don't document it in some form, you can be sure that it
won't get implemented right/completely and it won't get tested right/
completely/maybe at all.
I have tested a feature from a "spec" which consisted of five words on
a list of features, nothing more even when I asked for details. (Heck
if I can remember what the feature was. Needless to say, I don't
think it got tested very well. But neither did that team's project
management particularly care about QA feedback or test results in
their version of "Agile". Whole 'nother thread there.)
I've been on my current project for 4 years, and I just discovered
some behaviors this past week which have probably never worked
correctly because no one realized they were supposed to be tested, no
one on the team realized they even existed. Well, we knew they
theoretically existed, but they were never part of test suites.
Because there were no "artifacts" discussing them.
-- Jim
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