by Carsten Wium & Lucas Hansen
Dear diary
Good news! Today my boss told me that he would be sending me out to test our new software solution. He told me how quality minded and thorough I am. He said that the guys at the IT department had been working for a good while on this piece of shiny new software, and he wanted me to take it for a trial run. Feeling like my dad had just given me the keys to his new car, I promptly cleared my early summer schedule for the “User Test”. I also readied a speech for my wife about how we would have to wait another season before going to France.This is going to be great!
Dear diary
I was at the IT department today for my first planning meeting. I must admit my first impressions were met in full. There were computer geeks all over the place, coffee machines to feed them all and not a customer in sight! When I got to the meeting room, I met with the Test Manager – a bright one with a nice tie and the good manners too. He kicked off the meeting by letting us all know how important we are, and I must admit, it felt nice. We were all from different branches and we all felt much appreciated for taking time out of our calendars to be here. Some had been testers before, while others like me were here for the first time.Using several complicated terms, the test manager told us all of the plans for the test. I’m not really sure what they were, but the power points looked good. Tomorrow, everything is going to make much more sense.
Dear diary
Day three and we are almost done with the preparations for the test. Surprisingly enough, today wasn’t at all the best of days, after the first day’s confusion. The test manager showed up with a “business developer” who had a few moments to talk about the new software. It sounded good, but she had to run shortly after the presentation. Then the test manager started talking about another test which was making our test more difficult. Apparently someone was doing a system test. I’m not sure why that would be necessary since we are all here to do the testing, but in any event, that test was more important than the remaining introduction and we were sent home early.
Dear diary
It has been two weeks since we finished our planning and preparation and there are now three days to the beginning of the test! Here in our department, everybody is feeling tired of the old software and they are looking forward to my stories when they return from their holidays. Anyway, at the end of the day, I got a mail saying that the test is postponed for two weeks. The new software is having some bugs fixed (which, incidentally my cat also had this spring) and the developers needs a bit more time.
Dear diary
Today is the first day of the test, and I learned a valuable lesson. Showing up early has its rewards. Apparently someone else had made a miscount of how many testers were coming, and the last four testers that came through the door were divided onto only two computers. My first test case was a bit difficult to find. Our training with the test software had been much simpler than it really was. Apparently there was a bit of difference between how the developers sorted these “test cases” and how we practiced it during the training. When I finally found what I needed, I was good and ready to get to work like the thorough and quality minded tester that I supposedly was.There was plenty of work cut out for all of us. I tested many of the work processes that go on in my branch. A few I’ve had much experience with and some I got to know a lot better. Today, I also found a defect in the approval of invoices. Apparently the system allowed for all users to approve invoices, regardless of their position, and I am not sure that my boss would like for the canteen to approve his orderings of new hardware. This was my first actual defect and it felt good to catch that one before the software was released.
