New testers starting out

My team have in recent times gained a couple new testers. This has highlighted to me some of the simple things that you forget as you become more experienced. Basic principles that are of use to someone completely new to testing.

1. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid : if you are going to write test scripts keep them simple and write them so that anyone can follow them.


2. Review - When planning test scripts run the scenarios then at least have these peer reviewed i.e. get someone to look through what you are planning and comment on it. Once the scripts are complete i would recommend that for visability these are reviewed by business, technical and test representatives before script execution.


3. Dont debate it log it - When you find a defect then dont try and work out why or debate whether it is or not LOG IT. If you have found a difference between the actual and expected outcomes then the ideal person to resolve this issue is the developer and not the tester.


4. Picture says a thousand words - Where possible attach a screen shot of any issues, this gives more detail than just some text and might provide information to the developers that was not previously noticed. This also provides evidence that the issue was encountered as described.


5. Break it down - Break the scripting down into bite sized chunks in this way it will be much more reusable especially if you have a tool that will allow parameterisation.


6. Assume nothing - When you are testing an application it should not be based on what you think it should do. This information should have been clearly provided in advance in the documentation. If you dont have all of the requirements and design information required then this should be raised as an issue.