Software Testing is All About Ideas (and How to Generate Them)

The essence of software testing lies in the generation and execution of ideas. This tutorial explains the importance of having ideas for testing software:

Which of the following designs will be helpful to pack the pizza, considering all the relevant terms? I pointed towards the three shapes (circle, pentagon, and square) drawn on the paper and asked the candidate.

Carrying 2.5 years of experience in Software Testing, the candidate was expecting questions about testing (Testing definitions, Difference between Priority and Severity, and ultimately Bug Life Cycle).

He thought for some time and then answered that as per him, all three designs were suitable for the pizza packing. Despite considering cost, safety, and delivery, his response remained unchanged. The interview was finished.

Generating Ideas in Software Testing

During my nearer to decade career in Software Testing, I have taken around 100+ interviews, and believe me, I have never changed my strategy. Ever since the beginning, when I was new to interviews, I knew exactly the kind of individuals I wanted on my team.

Software testing is not about learning a language and implementing it. It goes beyond that, which sets it apart. A good Software Tester must be able to create new ideas continuously. Testing goes beyond executing predefined test cases and submitting a report with green and red indicators.

Software Testing is the most important part of the project life cycle, where quality is being verified and improved. It is essential to constantly evaluate yourself when you have such a significant responsibility. Here, evaluation refers to enhancing the brain’s ability to generate fresh ideas.

Why Do We Need Ideas For Testing Software

Here’s why you should care about software testing ideas.

#1) To Understand The Product To Be Tested

Rather than testing, the important part is to understand what is to be tested. Understanding features of the product, details about what the product can do and cannot, and finally relating the product to anything routine.

For example, most of the time, I try to relate the application/product to be tested with real-life objects, e.g. a knife, car, table, purse, or coffee mug. Relating different modules of application to different parts of related things makes it easier for me to think about how to test the same.

Let’s take a deeper dive. Suppose I want to test the Google.com website. Let’s relate it to a table.

• The table has four legs, so it’s definitely a table. Searching is Google.com’s main thing.
• Options like web, news, images, video, and maps are the legs of the table – Google.com.
• Now comes the usage. A table is mainly used to put on something or I would say to support something. Same way Google.com is mainly used to search for something.
• What is the best way to test a table’s main function of supporting or holding something? By putting lightweight paper to a 10kg package box, putting a hot plate or a chilled glass of milk, spilling something oily, and jumping on it. Google searches for all terms, from words to alphanumeric characters to special characters to full sentences to two-letter words, and so on.

The basic idea over here was to relate the application with real-time objects and then it becomes really easy to generate ideas to test it with all possible perspectives. But to relate the product/application with a real-time product, you need to generate an idea. 🙂

#2) Testing The Product

While testing the product, most of the time we prefer to follow the documented test cases and stop our brain from thinking about other ideas because we presume that we have generated all the ideas about testing while creating test cases. That is incorrect!

Generating ideas takes more than one attempt. The more you think about the product while being in real-time events, the more ideas you will get.

Let’s take it this way – you have to test Google.com relate it to the table-created test ideas and document them as test cases or test scenarios. Now, try to relate the product continuously with whatever you are doing.

For example, while drinking a glass of water, I could relate to the way disposable glass can be used for many purposes when I compared Google.com with glass.

• Filling liquid (again hot or cold).
• Playing (toddlers love to stake them up and make different designs).
• Creating art pieces (I have seen many art pieces made from disposable glass).

Google.com can access many options available from Google like Gmail, Google+, calendar, and many more, and in different supported languages too.

The main point here is the idea of how to utilize the product and its potential. So, to understand the usage of a product/application, you need to think like an end-user in different situations trying to use the product as per his/her convenience, comfort, and requirement.

#3) Bug Reporting And Tracking The Same

What happens when the developer/manager defers the reported bug or does not consider the bug a BUG? Generate ideas again. Advocating your bug requires providing a real-time example, which can be done by generating ideas.

For example, while testing Google.com, you found that all the features of a particular language were not working properly. Your bug was deferred, saying the language was rarely used, so attending to the bug in a future release was not risky.

What if the rare usage occurs multiple times soon and word-of-mouth fails to spread information about certain features? Won’t it be like having ladies’ bogie on the train and using it as a pantry by assuming that no lady will get on from the next few stations?

Conclusion

There is enough understanding of the bug’s importance through this article. So ideas will help you explain the bugs and will make it easy to get them resolved.

Ultimately, ideas are the basics of software testing. Software testing is one of the few fields that require a constant and intense stream of ideas. So, rather than doing monotonous testing, get your brain to work and generate ideas.

In the end, a single idea can reshape the world!  🙂

About the author: Our team member Bhumika Mehta is the author of this awesome post. She is a Project Lead, carrying 7+ years of Software Testing experience.