EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2010 presentation on Accelerate Testing and Advance Your Career With EuroSTAR by Ruud Teunissen. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. POWER HOURAccelerate Testing And Advance Your Career With EuroSTAR
Ruud Teunissen
Polteq Test Services BV –The Netherlands

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.com
Objectives of this Power Hour
•Accelerate Testing And Advance Your Career With EuroSTAR
•Increase the value of your participation in EuroSTAR 2010
–How to select the right ideas, tools, skills, methods, processes, ... to advance YOUR carreer
–Use the trip home to plan your next step: how to start with it tomorrow (next monday)
–Tips and trics, do's and don'ts from experts (conference alumni)

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www.polteq.com
A test career is defined by … growth and differentiation
Test design & executionTeam lead
Test expert
Infra&tool expertTest coordination
Test specialist
Infra&tool specialist
Test managementTest consultant
Infra&tool consultant
???? Test ????

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www.polteq.com
… and using the full potential! knowledge and skillsTraining
Social skills
Experience
Coaching & support

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www.polteq.com
What defines a good tester?
IT Knowledge
Soft Skills
Test Skills
DomainKnowledge
Character
“Tester”

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www.polteq.comCharacter -If I touch it, it will break
•Has to be there from the start, cannot be acquiredcan only be improved by training & gaining experience
•Analyticalquick insight in what and how to test
•Accuracyfactual, precise, tot the point, …
•Creativeable to create test cases, “out of thin air”
•Criticalseeing is believing, “check, check, double-check”
•Curiousevery good tester is an explorer
“to boldly go where no man has gone before”

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www.polteq.com
IT KnowledgeDomain Knowledge
•General IT knowledge
–information services, policy, planning
–organization of information services
•Software Development
–DSDM, RUP, SDM II, Agile, …
–CASE, OO, CBD, …
•System Management
–Configuration / Change Management
–JCL, Security, …
•Infrastructure
–hardware, network, …
–OS, middleware, DBMS, …
•Requirements
–Use Cases, Business & System, …
•Industry knowledge
–standards and regulations
–terminology
•Business knowledge
–objectives
–processes and procedures
•Application knowledge
–look and feel, “how it works” (or should work)
–functional and non-functional requirements

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www.polteq.com
Test SkillsSoft Skills
•Test execution
–execute test cases, log defects, report results, …
–static testing, reviews, …
•Test preparation & specification
–test design techniques
–testability review
•Test tools and environments
•Test approach
–process, life cycle, planning, management, …
–test strategy –when to apply which techniques (coverage)
–how to apply test techniques
–how to use tools and environments effectively
•Social
–enable others to add quality
–focus on resolution not blame
•Persistent
–goal focused
–rowing against the current
•Reporting
–factual
–honest
•“Being ignored”
–able to deal with unfinished and unheard
–swallow the “I told you so’s again and again

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.com
What defines a good tester?
IT Knowledge
Soft Skills Test Skills
Domain
Knowledge
Character
“Tester”

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.com

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.com

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.com
Different types of “lessons learned”
•Wish you hadn’t gone there
–There are always a few of those that slip in… … read the descriptions more careful next time!
•Confirmation of what you already knew
–Use it as a boost for your confidence!
•Great talk, but not for me
–Not in line with your organization, job, ambition, …
•Definitely improvement possibilities for me!

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www.polteq.com

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www.polteq.com
Improvement possibilitiesin line with your ambitions and potential

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.comDefine “Impact”
•Will it help you?
–Wow!As if the speaker knew you were coming! (valuable, visible, clear, quick-wins)
–Yes…Tune it to your context(noticeable, evident, contributive)
–Well…Great talk but… (small, marginal)

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www.polteq.com
Define “Term”
•When will it help you?
–Now(perfect for your current project!)
–Within a few weeks(perfect for your next project)
–Within a few months(perfect for the next step in your career)
–Never(nice talk, but…)

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.comDefine “Investment”
•What investment is required?
–Free(what are you waiting for?)
–Low(buy the “book” and read it)
–Medium(go to the training days!)
–High(training, consulting, tooling, …)

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.comDefine “Ease of Implementation”
•How easy is it to do?
–Just do it
–Instruct / Train / Support(with a little help you can do it)
–Major change(different then you’ve always done it)
–Force(only if they make me do it)

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www.polteq.com
Improvement possibilitiesin line with your ambitions and potential
Ideal possibilities (potential silver bullets)
Term
Impact
Investment
Ease of implementation
Now
Wow!
Free
Just do it

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.comSelect yourimprovement possibilities
Well, yes, but…
•Don’t focus on term only
–A career is a long term effort!
•Invest in yourself
–Your company pays for your training & conferences, but you are the major investor yourself!
•Do the hard things first
–Major steps forward are the hardest, but most rewarding!
•If you had the “Wow!” experience, you’re one of the lucky few
–But you will always have several “yes’s”

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www.polteq.com
My list of improvements
•Will be based upon
–What is the message the presenter is sending?
–What is “special” about the presentation?
–Does it have any “instant value”?
–What’s in it for me?
–…

22. Ruud Teunissen
Polteq Test Services BV –The Netherlands
ruud.teunissen@polteq.com -http://www.polteq.com

23. Ruud Teunissen
Polteq Test Services BV –The Netherlands

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© Polteq Test Services B.V.
www.polteq.comAbout the speaker
Ruud Teunissen
Polteq Test Services, The Netherlands
In the testing world since 1989, Ruud Teunissen has held numerous test functions in different organizations and projects: tester, test specialist, test consultant, test manager, etcetera. Ruud is co-author of Software Testing -A Guide to the TMap®Approach and is a frequent speaker at (inter)national conferences and workshops. He was a member of the program committee for Quality Week Europe and EuroSTAR. Ruud is currently Manager Operations and International Test Consultant at Polteq Test Services BV.
TPA®and TMap®are registered trademarks of Sogeti