Brian Osman

I recently read an interesting blog entitled ‘How can i become a better Tester’ – http://thoughtsonqa.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-can-i-become-better-tester.html

This was my comment i left… 

Hi John,

Enjoyed your article. I agree – its mindset (quality), its information gathering (read, read and more reading….asking questions…be involved)and finding that mentor who you can clicked with. Sometimes, when as a new tester, we can be blinded by the bias of that mentor so i would add – ‘When you are ‘ready’ question yourself, your understanding, your toolbox and then define yourself in the testing space’ – the trick is knowing when you are ready!
When i first started testing i was sure that testing was <b>ALL</b> about test scripts, test documents, writing documents and more documents because that’s how it was. Today, my thoughts and process have changed dramtically compared to when i first started testing but those earlier experiences shaped my thought processes today!
Great blog John!

Which got me thinking – how do our experiences shape our thought processes and ’steer’ us towards one method or another? For me embracing a more Exploratory approach was a logical evolution in the testing space. It allowed me to be creative yet structured at the sametime – it increased my toolbox – and i gain immense satisfaction from this approach to testing. Why? Because when i was involved in the more traditional form of testing, i got to the point that i wondered what is the point to what i am doing….in other words i began to question myself and re-examined the ‘tools’ i had. That’s when i became open to different methods to testing.

If i wasn’t as receptive or i wasn’t at that questioning stage, i doubt that Exploratory testing would’ve taken off for me as it has!

So sometimes, it comes down to timing as well as being open to new ideas!