Monday 3 May 2010

What have testers ever done for us ?


Rob Lamberts recent blog Don't Be A Follower made me think of Life of Brian ( James Bach isn't the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy )


Which in turn reminded me of the What have the Romans done for us scene

Xerxes: The aqueduct.

Reg: Oh yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That's true.

Masked Activist: And the sanitation!

Stan: Oh yes... sanitation, Reg, you remember what the city used to be like.

Reg: All right, I'll grant you that the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done...

Matthias: And the roads...

Reg: (sharply) Well yes obviously the roads... the roads go without saying. But apart from the aqueduct, the sanitation and the roads...

Stan: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now.

Francis: Yes, they certainly know how to keep order... (general nodding)... let's face it, they're the only ones who could in a place like this.

Reg: All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us?


Now re-work this with testers as the Romans...


Reg: What has testing done for us ?

Xerxes: Well, they found those showstopper bugs before we went live...

Reg: Yeh, yeh, I suppose that would have given our customers some trouble

Masked Activist: They went through the specs before we started development and found all those inconsistencies and ambiguities

Stan: And they helped the devs write those acceptance tests before they started coding so they knew when they were done

Reg: All right all right - but apart from finding the showstoppers and making the requirements testable and making sure the devs knew what they were coding...

Stan: The Continuous Integration - remember how scared we were to change the code and how long it took to manually retest it all ?

What else has testing done for us ?

5 comments:

Markus Gärtner said...

What about customer collaboration? Oh, and, and, inattentional blindness? What about critical thinking? What about systems thinking? Oh, and how about user experience? Sure, we didn't have that beforehand...

Simon Morley said...

Ah, Monty Python is a rich ground for testing analogy. What about another 'Brian' ref:

Coordinator: Crucifixion?
Prisoner: Yes.
Coordinator: Good. Out of the door, line on the left, one cross each.
[Next prisoner]
Coordinator: Crucifixion?
Mr. Cheeky: Er, no, freedom actually.
Coordinator: What?
Mr. Cheeky: Yeah, they said I hadn't done anything and I could go and live on an island somewhere.
Coordinator: Oh I say, that's very nice. Well, off you go then.
Mr. Cheeky: No, I'm just pulling your leg, it's crucifixion really.
Coordinator: [laughing] Oh yes, very good. Well...
Mr. Cheeky: Yes I know, out of the door, one cross each, line on the left.


Or, as applied to testing...

Coordinator: Scripted test?
Tester: Yes
Coord: Good. Other there on the shelf, one scripted test case each.
[Next Tester]
Coordinator: Scripted test?
Tester: Er, no, an exploratory approach please.
Coord: What?
Tester: Yes, they said I could come and do some testing with my eyes open.
Coord: Oh, I say, that's sounds very nice. Well, off you go then.
Tester: No, I'm just joking my PM gets scared if we don't follow the script.
Coord: Oh, well in that case...
Tester: Yes I know, over there, one scripted test case each.

Phil said...

thans for the additions Markus - and nice one Simon, love it !!

Unknown said...

Phil, nice post!

Simon,
your ET analogy would be funny if it didn't get too close to the truth!

Eusebiu Blindu said...

Great analogy!