We have an application we want to create.
First we have Angie. Angie decided how the application is planned to function, look etc. based on users' expectations and demands (sometimes she's just guessing but she's good at that as well). She communicates her plan to Bob, Cody and Dora and let them have a say about the ideas. Cody is the programmer (of course), he makes things happen by writing incorrect english with very many special characters (also known as programming). But Cody needs help to make his cool stuff look cool. That's why he loves Bob, the designer. They are usually trash talking each other but deep within it's pure love.
Cody and Bob do their work based on Angie's plan but sometimes they, intentionally or unintentionally, drift away from it. Intentionally, for example, could mean Cody realizes that the plan conflicts with how the rest of the application is coded and he simply tweaks the new code to fit the old while unintentionally could simply be a misinterpretation. Also, many things are not explained in Angie's plan so Cody and Bob have to take initiatives in order to not constantly disturb Angie as well as to make their work creative and fun. Also Angie doesn't master design and code the same way Bob and Cody do so she has to trust their judgement.
First we have Angie. Angie decided how the application is planned to function, look etc. based on users' expectations and demands (sometimes she's just guessing but she's good at that as well). She communicates her plan to Bob, Cody and Dora and let them have a say about the ideas. Cody is the programmer (of course), he makes things happen by writing incorrect english with very many special characters (also known as programming). But Cody needs help to make his cool stuff look cool. That's why he loves Bob, the designer. They are usually trash talking each other but deep within it's pure love.
Cody and Bob do their work based on Angie's plan but sometimes they, intentionally or unintentionally, drift away from it. Intentionally, for example, could mean Cody realizes that the plan conflicts with how the rest of the application is coded and he simply tweaks the new code to fit the old while unintentionally could simply be a misinterpretation. Also, many things are not explained in Angie's plan so Cody and Bob have to take initiatives in order to not constantly disturb Angie as well as to make their work creative and fun. Also Angie doesn't master design and code the same way Bob and Cody do so she has to trust their judgement.
Finally we have Dora. She looks at what Bob and Cody have created to get as much information as possible about the application's shape. Bad shape in this case can come in many forms (list definitely not complete):
- Stuff is simply wrong
2+2 is not 9 and trying to login with an empty password shouldn't crash the application - Stuff seemed good on paper but in reality it sucks
A popup confirming you've made a change was a great idea until you updated 2000 items at once. - Stuff is not consistent
Angie likes popups while Cody likes CSS boxes. This can become a problem, especially when there's not one but twenty Codys, all with their own preference. - By-products might be a problem
A global search was a great feature until it was discovered logging in now takes 10 minutes instead of 0,3 seconds due to search indexing. - Some desired features weren't anticipated
"These short service messages seems really useful, maybe we should let users send them to each others?" "SMS? Useful? Well, I guess we could do that..." - Bad people can do bad stuff
Picture from xkcd. - Stuff simply didn't solve whatever stuff was suppose to solve
The new wizard (not the cool magical kind, the nasty GUI kind) was suppose to simplify the creation of new documents but now the user is presented with so many options they could earlier ignore it's just insanely complex! What a heck is document structure template, I just want a new document, damn it!
Dora looks for all this to help Bob and Cody (and Angie) look good so that users (and managers) won't come with pitchforks trying to end their lives. She also helps stakeholders like Angie and others make better decisions by providing them as much valuable information as possible about the application's shape. To make sure good decisions about the application can be made it's important Dora, just like Angie, is a great communicator.
Some people think Dora's job is about making sure 2+2 is 4. They are the same people who wouldn't care if the meat they buy is rotten as long as it's packaged according to spec. Others think Dora is a sadistic mistress, which she might be, but not during working hours. If she was she would just stay quiet about problems found and see the programmers run in panic as users storm the building with their pitchforks.
- You just want to see stuff break, Dora!
- No, but I rather see it break here than in the face of thousands of users
Some people think Dora's job is about making sure 2+2 is 4. They are the same people who wouldn't care if the meat they buy is rotten as long as it's packaged according to spec. Others think Dora is a sadistic mistress, which she might be, but not during working hours. If she was she would just stay quiet about problems found and see the programmers run in panic as users storm the building with their pitchforks.
- You just want to see stuff break, Dora!
- No, but I rather see it break here than in the face of thousands of users
I'm Dora! Or well, I'm not, but this is what I do, I'm a tester!
Very nicely written! Next time somebody asks me what I do, I'll just give them this text.
ReplyDeleteThanks for ur post.
ReplyDeleteIts good to learn..
Looking forward to read ur writings.
If someone asks me,why i am doing?
I would say:
"This is what I do, I'm a tester"