Quality Quotient of a Tester: 22 Core Strengths to Be a Good Tester

AlexQin

#8) Reasoning and questioning:

Reasoning and questioning is another important character that a Tester should possess in order to prove to be an effective Tester.

Only the one who really understands the topic can ask questions and the one who asks better questions is considered to be intelligent too. Irrespective of that, reasoning and questioning, in this case, enables a Tester to understand if the implementation made by them is the best option or if there any other options that are available.

Not only that, as mentioned earlier, questioning helps in getting more clarity on the product and also in understanding why that particular solution has been implemented, out of many other available options.

In such a case, a Tester can further extend themselves to think beyond everyone and come out with better and cheaper idea that no one has thought of so far. We also know the ‘five why’s principle of finding the root cause analysis. This will definitely help the Tester to go to the root of the problem and later identify if a similar problem exists in any other area of the product.

Testers should always keep reasoning about anything that they hear in order to understand better and that too in detail. At times even questioning themselves will help a lot. Why should one design like this and why not like this? What is the critical path? What is the optimized solution?

Actually asking questions makes a Tester more knowledgeable. But it is also quite important to exercise care that only right questions are asked at the right forums, otherwise, it will defeat the whole purpose.

A Tester should have the enthusiasm to understand the in and out of the product, beyond the scope of the testing in order to identify the real problems in the product.

Few times, I’ve noticed the Developers or Development Manager dictating the testing group when there is a time crunch, and the team has fixed the critical defect, saying, ‘just run these test cases, it is enough’.

Ask them why? Understand why that particular defect occurred, and what have they done to fix it. Honestly, a good Tester will not sleep peacefully, unless all the doubts are cleared out to the root.

When I say this, I would also like to mention to the Testers that they should never come under the pressure of Developers and Development Managers or anyone else in the team. It is their responsibility to analyze thoroughly and decide what is required to be tested, instead of leaving it to others to dictate Testers.

AlexQin

#9) Guarding the quality:

Obviously, ‘guarding the quality’, is the best and most mandated quality of the Tester.

We know there are a lot of situations that a Tester would come across under the pressure to compromise during testing, either by not providing enough details when questions are asked or cutting down the testing scope, compromising in case of tools etc.

In such cases, it is always better to put your foot down, let what may come and just do the justice to the quality without any compromising.

I’ve observed in few organizations, where everyone neglects the words of the Test Manager or Test group and take their own decisions about testing. But if that decision in any way leads to compromising the quality, as a good Tester, one should never accept that.

So, guarding the quality of the product ultimately becomes the responsibility of the Tester, even though it is conceived and built by the entire team. It looks very simple, but without compromising for quality, is a very difficult task in reality.

At times, it is a practice that, when everything is completed, the team wants to make some last minute changes, which generally affects the overall quality. So, guarding the quality on such last-minute decisions to make changes to the code becomes the responsibility of the Tester.

When we use the word ‘guarding’, it means a lot. It is not just testing the software and finding defects, but ensuring the overall quality of the software at every stage of the product and keenly watching if any incident/ happenings or any other stakeholder’s decisions contribute to compromising of quality and fighting against such decisions throughout.

Going an extra mile to maintain the quality is known as ‘guarding quality’.

AlexQin

#10) Being Aggressive:

Being ‘aggressive’ in making decisions is another characteristic of the Tester.

Having explained the above situations, where the Testers come under the pressure of compromising the testing and are unable to carry out enough testing. I would say that Testers need to be aggressive in putting up their point of views, decisions, in expressing their thoughts, if not, it will be definitely neglected and ultimately result in poor quality of the software.

When a Tester tries to establish that the defect is critical, then no one would like to accept it in the first instance itself. They always want to push it down or call for a triage to decide if it is critical or not. At such a point of time, the Tester needs to be aggressive in putting up their thoughts.

A tester should not have the attitude of surrendering to other’s decisions unless they evaluate the sanctity of the decision.

Many a time, in the urge of delivering or meeting the timeline, stakeholders recommend to cut down the scope of testing and recommend stating that it would be fine to test only a particular area of the software in case of a bug fix, or it is enough only if these test cases are run. It is always good to take the input but should not get influenced by any other’s decision.

Hence Tester needs to be very aggressive while making such decisions.

Whenever the QA group submits their Testing plan and schedule and tries to convey that the time available for them is not sufficient for carrying out testing, then however detailed their plan and estimate is, everyone tries to push it down. So, in such cases, the Tester undergoes a hard push back in carrying out the testing activities comfortably.

In such a scenario, if the QA team can present their points aggressively then there will be a possibility of change in the decisions in the entire team.

AlexQin

#11) Excellent Communication:

Communicating the required information in an effective way is the basic essential quality of a Tester.

A Tester is required to work with various stakeholders across the globe at various stages of SDLC and hence it is essential to express and represent the information precisely, with clarity and without creating any confusion.

We keep hearing that when a defect from life comes back and hits the QA team, everybody starts blaming the QA team, stating ‘why was this simple defect not found out during testing’? It is quite often that the same defect has already been reported earlier and the team has not given enough priority to take it seriously and fix it.

Whose problem is it? QA failing to critically articulate or interpret and project the impact of the defect appropriately to the stakeholders? and not being effective in communicating the severity of the issue and convincing the team?

So, along with communication, it is the ability to articulate things and influence the team to agree to their point of view, which is the important thing that is essential for a Tester.

When I say a Tester needs to be good in communication, he or she need not be an English Laureate but should be at least able to clearly andeffectively communicate what he/she feels, either verbally or through a written document.

If one cannot bring out the clear meaning of the content in an understandable manner, then the whole purpose of testing or identifying the critical defect and being able to convey that it is quite critical will be defeated.

Communication could be as simple as explaining the defect description, writing the sequence of its occurrence or explaining the team about the roadblock, which the test team is stuck with being unable to proceed. At the same time, a Tester needs to be pretty well aware that poor and ineffective communication will lead to a lot of confusions and result in poor quality.

Generally, Developers do not like showcasing critical bugs in their code, so what matters here is, the ability of a Tester to convey and convince that there is a bug in your code in a tactic way. While conveying the defects to the development team, there should not be a show off of the feeling that, ‘I have found a defect in your work or you have done a mistake’, which in turn will lead to ego issues in the team. This is all required as a good communicator.

So, Conveying any negatives in an objective way so that, no individual goes into the offensive mode by clearly explaining the impact of the situation is quite important. A tester should always keep the interest of the project in mind while conveying anything without highlighting the mistake of an individual.

In this case, we can extend the definition of a communication skill a bit more for a Tester in terms of writing skills as well, where the Tester in a project needs to document certain things with more clarity, like Readme’s, User guides, generating meaningful test summary reports etc.

AlexQin

#12) Expressing Thoughts/Views:

Talking in the group and making your voice heard is yet another important characteristic of a Tester.

It could be a review meeting or a technical presentation or as simple as a gathering to convey a decision to the Testers, to call them to work on the weekend or about presenting a project schedule.

In those meetings, a Tester should be able to stand up in the group, present their points clearly and be able to make their voice heard by ensuring that they really understand what it actually takes to test, what are their challenges and what are the consequences if not tested thoroughly and should be able to influence in reversing the decisions.

AlexQin

#13) Hard Working:

One has to be a real ‘hard worker’ in order to be a Tester.

It takes a lot of time and effort for an individual to understand deeply into the subject and unless one is a hard worker, it is difficult to become a good Tester. Hard work aspect of a Tester does not need much explanation.

AlexQin

#14) Excellent Problem-Solving Skills:

Testers should not be just identifying the defects and throwing all the other problems of the project off the wall to the Developers. It is quite important for the Testers to help the entire team in ‘solving the problem’ or at least proposing the possible solutions to the problems.

When a QA has problem-solving skills, stakeholders and everybody else in the team would like to look up to them with dignity and importance and will reach out to them to take their suggestions in case of any problems or issues.

So, if a QA starts analyzing the problems and works with the team to solve the problems, the  QA role in the project not only becomes important but quite interesting too.

AlexQin

#15) Continuous Learner:

A tester needs to be a ‘continuous learner’ and should keep themselves updated by constantly learning, the new technologies and happenings around the globe, which in turn will help them to perform the Testing role in a better way and helps them to stand out in the team.

No matter which path one takes, the focus should be to keep learning.

Let it be Functional, nonfunctional testing, automation, Learning a coding language, machine learning, AI-based automation testing, micro-services testing etc., and to learn anything that comes on their way is the Testers way.

This learning helps them to be more creative, innovative and helps in solving the problems and implementing new ideas and solutions. More the knowledge that one possesses, more it helps them in making the right decisions.

It is not just learning the new technique or technology or a new process, but also learning from the previous mistakes, not only from their own but from other’s mistakes too. Constantly learning from others, learning from everything that they see, is the best quality of the Tester.

The one who is in the learning mode always thinks and questions himself, what did he learn today from the happenings. And finally it is not just learning that helps, but implementing the learning in practice is what matters in real life.

AlexQin

#16) Being open to the change and flexible:

Being ‘open to the change and being flexible’ is another important characteristic of a Tester.

We know that a change is inevitable and is always for the good only. A tester should be open and tolerable to the changes in the scope, changes in the design (several times), changes in the architecture, changes in the tool, technology or anything else.

Whatever may change, a Tester should accept those changes and adapt themselves quickly to the change and carry out the testing work honestly without any complaints.

A tester should be flexible enough to accept the comments from the stakeholders on their area of work, maybe a suggestion provided to improve upon, automation coverage, defect metrics, test results reporting, hosting triage or anything else. They should be open-minded to welcome any sort of change or suggestion and keep constantly learning and improving.

A tester should be open to work with the Development team with patience, in helping them to simulate the defects, in addition to providing lengthy defect descriptions, logs, and screenshots during bug reporting.

AlexQin

#17) Good Team Player:

A Tester has to be a ‘good team player’.

He should be able to constantly work closely with the team, learn from them and also help the others to learn from self. Testers need to work together with the team in identifying the problems in the product, showcasing them to the team in a better way and help them to resolve it quickly.

A Tester needs to stand for the entire team when a defect or mistake is identified and support every other Tester in all the phases together in a team. As a Tester, any problem or issue should be owned by the entire team instead of blaming one person. As we know, an individual can achieve more in a teamwork than being single.

Hence, the role of a Team player helps a Tester to achieve the better quality as a team.