Which school of testing are you?
Submitted by neill mccarthy on Mon, 23/05/2005 - 18:44.
[textile] "Brett Pettichord":http://www.pettichord.com has stated there are "four schools of testing":http://www.io.com/%7Ewazmo/papers/ and argues the case well. He has since explained further the thinking behind this view and the classifications as well as how he has arrived at this way of thinking on the software-testing yahoo group.
So accepting the four schools are a valid thinking model and a starting point for reference how, do you tell which school you are and which school is right for your organisational effectiveness and your personal effectiveness?
Will this always be the same school for the individual and the organisation on all projects or are there benefits in diversity in some contexts?
Should we look to find a way to measure and communicate the effectiveness of these schools and would there be a common language to do so?
Is it possible to be a member of one school and function effectively in another school?
As I get more ideas on the subject and some supporting stories and quantified statements on the subject I will blog more. In the meantime will people please at least accredit the idea to Brett when they raise the four schools at conference, I have been to two talks already this year that did not!
Me, I am of the view I am part of the context driven school, however I started as an analytical school student and was at an early stage in my career, when working for an engineering firm, an initiate to the process school.
I would like to think I have become a thinking tester but I accept, to quote Alan Richardson from one of his excellent talks, "I was a teenage methodology monster"; "click here":http://www.compendiumdev.co.uk/context/index.php for the original, in more ways then one, presentation. Hence as explained in the outcome from my attempt at Mike Kelly's "envision how you test":http://www.testingreflections.com/node/view/2161 idea when I stop thinking I return to process.
So accepting the four schools are a valid thinking model and a starting point for reference how, do you tell which school you are and which school is right for your organisational effectiveness and your personal effectiveness?
Will this always be the same school for the individual and the organisation on all projects or are there benefits in diversity in some contexts?
Should we look to find a way to measure and communicate the effectiveness of these schools and would there be a common language to do so?
Is it possible to be a member of one school and function effectively in another school?
As I get more ideas on the subject and some supporting stories and quantified statements on the subject I will blog more. In the meantime will people please at least accredit the idea to Brett when they raise the four schools at conference, I have been to two talks already this year that did not!
Me, I am of the view I am part of the context driven school, however I started as an analytical school student and was at an early stage in my career, when working for an engineering firm, an initiate to the process school.
I would like to think I have become a thinking tester but I accept, to quote Alan Richardson from one of his excellent talks, "I was a teenage methodology monster"; "click here":http://www.compendiumdev.co.uk/context/index.php for the original, in more ways then one, presentation. Hence as explained in the outcome from my attempt at Mike Kelly's "envision how you test":http://www.testingreflections.com/node/view/2161 idea when I stop thinking I return to process.