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我讨厌测试的10件事（下）
接《我讨厌测试的10件事》一文的后5件事。
原文出处http://www.sdtimes.com/SearchResult/31858
March 25, 2008 — I seem to have struck a nerve. Not at the specter of visiting the dentist, taking a lengthy exam or giving an important speech. But many of you apparently are feeling the same pain about certain aspects of your testing jobs.

The letters poured in, mostly in support—or perhaps commiseration—about gathering requirements, developer dictatorships, salary disparity, inequitable emphasis on manual testing and the perception that testing is easy. That was last week’s installment, which promised “10 things I hate about testing,” but delivered only five, as one reader kindly pointed out. So without further delay, here are the remaining five things that quality control specialist Prakash Sodhani hates about testing. Let’s see how many are your hates too.

6. Getting Everything at the Last Moment
In his years working on software projects, Sodhani has witnessed on more than one occasion that the development team usually takes all of its allotted time to develop the code. And in cases when it uses more than the time allotted, that time doesn’t cause the project’s overall deadline to be extended. “If developers need extra time, it cuts into the time for testing. But as usual, no one cares.”

In project meetings, Sodhani says he’s often amazed when people with no knowledge of his testing practices are allowed to question him about the time he’s taking to perform them. “As long as you say that it will be tested before the deadline, you’re OK. Once you say that testing might be delayed, questions start coming in as to why it will be so many days to test a feature that ‘looks’ so simple.”

7. Lack of Challenging Opportunities
Just as hiring can be a crapshoot, it’s also impossible to know what a job will truly entail just from a series of interviews. “I’ve been surprised to see implied job responsibilities be totally different” than the reality, Sodhani says, describing one job position that he interviewed for, expecting the questions to be highly technical. Instead the “interview was very generic stuff. I got the job offer but didn’t take it.”

Why didn’t he, you ask? The problem in testing nowadays is that if you’re stuck in a team with not that many technical people, there’s nothing you can do “except talk about families and dinners,” Sodhani says. In such an environment, it’s more difficult to keep learning. “You have to be self-motivated. In one of my jobs, most of the testers had no testing background or technical skills. But since they could write test cases in English, they were working as test engineers.”

8. Differences in Criteria for Judging a ‘Good Tester’
Precious few organizations are totally without politics. And prejudice, as much as we try to quash it, is part of the human condition. In business, it’s critical to upward mobility to stay on good terms with the boss. That’s just common sense—don’t be difficult, go along and get along, don’t complain, don’t explain, so the sayings go.

But no one should have to “butter up” the boss; advancement should be based on merit alone. Unfortunately, that is seldom the case. “If you are good at buttering, you might be the best tester in your organization,” says Sodhani. “For me, how a tester is judged is very important. I have never been the ‘buttering’ kind, and I realize how things can change even if you are not the most competent person around. You don’t have to be technically smart to succeed.”
March 25, 2008 — I seem to have struck a nerve. Not at the specter of visiting the dentist, taking a lengthy exam or giving an important speech. But many of you apparently are feeling the same pain about certain aspects of your testing jobs.

The letters poured in, mostly in support—or perhaps commiseration—about gathering requirements, developer dictatorships, salary disparity, inequitable emphasis on manual testing and the perception that testing is easy. That was last week’s installment, which promised “10 things I hate about testing,” but delivered only five, as one reader kindly pointed out. So without further delay, here are the remaining five things that quality control specialist Prakash Sodhani hates about testing. Let’s see how many are your hates too.

6. Getting Everything at the Last Moment
In his years working on software projects, Sodhani has witnessed on more than one occasion that the development team usually takes all of its allotted time to develop the code. And in cases when it uses more than the time allotted, that time doesn’t cause the project’s overall deadline to be extended. “If developers need extra time, it cuts into the time for testing. But as usual, no one cares.”

In project meetings, Sodhani says he’s often amazed when people with no knowledge of his testing practices are allowed to question him about the time he’s taking to perform them. “As long as you say that it will be tested before the deadline, you’re OK. Once you say that testing might be delayed, questions start coming in as to why it will be so many days to test a feature that ‘looks’ so simple.”

7. Lack of Challenging Opportunities
Just as hiring can be a crapshoot, it’s also impossible to know what a job will truly entail just from a series of interviews. “I’ve been surprised to see implied job responsibilities be totally different” than the reality, Sodhani says, describing one job position that he interviewed for, expecting the questions to be highly technical. Instead the “interview was very generic stuff. I got the job offer but didn’t take it.”

Why didn’t he, you ask? The problem in testing nowadays is that if you’re stuck in a team with not that many technical people, there’s nothing you can do “except talk about families and dinners,” Sodhani says. In such an environment, it’s more difficult to keep learning. “You have to be self-motivated. In one of my jobs, most of the testers had no testing background or technical skills. But since they could write test cases in English, they were working as test engineers.”

8. Differences in Criteria for Judging a ‘Good Tester’
Precious few organizations are totally without politics. And prejudice, as much as we try to quash it, is part of the human condition. In business, it’s critical to upward mobility to stay on good terms with the boss. That’s just common sense—don’t be difficult, go along and get along, don’t complain, don’t explain, so the sayings go.

But no one should have to “butter up” the boss; advancement should be based on merit alone. Unfortunately, that is seldom the case. “If you are good at buttering, you might be the best tester in your organization,” says Sodhani. “For me, how a tester is judged is very important. I have never been the ‘buttering’ kind, and I realize how things can change even if you are not the most competent person around. You don’t have to be technically smart to succeed.”

9. Doing Things for Nothing
“In one of my jobs, I was assigned to work on a project that the boss said was just being done for the sake of doing it. ‘It is just a one-off thing and it is not going to bring in much revenue’ ” In other words, no one cared what happened to the project, yet Sodhani was expected to do a good job of testing, even though he knew beforehand that none of it mattered. “The kind of attitude of ‘just getting it over with’ creates a frustrating atmosphere to work in.”

Many of the people Sodhani has worked with were just there for the paycheck. “I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people coming to work and looking for [another] job at the same time. It’s a frequent occurrence.”

10. Living With the Developer’s ‘I’m the Boss’ Attitude
It’s easy to fall into the trap of self-importance and grow a big head when you’re the company’s subject-matter expert that you think they can’t live without. This is almost never true. “In one of my jobs, a developer who was supposed to be subject-matter expert decided to leave the company. One of his colleagues who had some knowledge about that area came and told me that he was now the indispensable resource of the company. I just laughed.”

This very attitude can be seen in almost every project, says Sodhani, “I actually see this very frequently,” particularly in organizations that keep no documentation, he says. “You just keep running around to get all the information and these people start thinking that they know everything. It becomes irritating after a while, especially when you know how little that person really knows.”

No one is indispensable; anyone can be shown the door at any moment.

Marching Into May
A special thanks to Nancy Beller, who pointed out that my newsletter “Testers Are Idiots,” covering common misconceptions about testers was from March 4, not May 4.

While we’re on the subject of May (yes, that’s May), that’s where you’ll find some of the best letters on the subject of tester hates. Also in May will be Jeff Feldstein’s article on attracting, hiring, retaining and growing an outstanding testing team that was the basis for the March 4 newsletter. Don’t miss it.
9. Doing Things for Nothing
“In one of my jobs, I was assigned to work on a project that the boss said was just being done for the sake of doing it. ‘It is just a one-off thing and it is not going to bring in much revenue’ ” In other words, no one cared what happened to the project, yet Sodhani was expected to do a good job of testing, even though he knew beforehand that none of it mattered. “The kind of attitude of ‘just getting it over with’ creates a frustrating atmosphere to work in.”

Many of the people Sodhani has worked with were just there for the paycheck. “I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people coming to work and looking for [another] job at the same time. It’s a frequent occurrence.”

10. Living With the Developer’s ‘I’m the Boss’ Attitude
It’s easy to fall into the trap of self-importance and grow a big head when you’re the company’s subject-matter expert that you think they can’t live without. This is almost never true. “In one of my jobs, a developer who was supposed to be subject-matter expert decided to leave the company. One of his colleagues who had some knowledge about that area came and told me that he was now the indispensable resource of the company. I just laughed.”

This very attitude can be seen in almost every project, says Sodhani, “I actually see this very frequently,” particularly in organizations that keep no documentation, he says. “You just keep running around to get all the information and these people start thinking that they know everything. It becomes irritating after a while, especially when you know how little that person really knows.”

No one is indispensable; anyone can be shown the door at any moment.

Marching Into May
A special thanks to Nancy Beller, who pointed out that my newsletter “Testers Are Idiots,” covering common misconceptions about testers was from March 4, not May 4.

While we’re on the subject of May (yes, that’s May), that’s where you’ll find some of the best letters on the subject of tester hates. Also in May will be Jeff Feldstein’s article on attracting, hiring, retaining and growing an outstanding testing team that was the basis for the March 4 newsletter. Don’t miss it.
posted on 2008-07-28 15:28 大话人生 阅读(177) 评论(0)  编辑 收藏 引用 所属分类: 测试基础
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