Recently, I’ve been reflecting upon the evolving software testing role. Here are my reflections, some of which may be present in your organisation.

The Role Definition

Historically, the role was defined as a ‘Tester’ or a ‘Test Analyst/Software Test Analyst.’ In recent years, it’s changed to ‘Software Engineer.’ The role has evolved along with technology and now requires a degree of programming knowledge. The original remit was fairly set and involved reading, questioning, analysing and lots of manual keying. Current day requires automation skills for data creation, performance testing, use of API automation and generic regression test execution.

Introduction: Transitioning to Remote Work

With the Government’s latest announcement to move to ‘Plan B’ restrictions amid fears of Omicron variant infections, I thought it would be good to talk about my own personal experience of working at home during the pandemic.

I’ve now been working from home since Boris made his initial announcement in March 2020, ordering people to stay at home. At the time, I was working in Manchester as a Test Manager. We had a great test team, good relationships with the clients and frequent social activities in the evenings.

Adapting to Changing Work Environment Expectations

Our guest writer, Renée Mineart explores how and where we work has changed. There has been a lot of discussion lately at work about returning to work or perhaps I should say returning to the office and considering the new lockdown exit plan announced recently, I imagine a lot of you are thinking about this as well.

Where Does That's Impossible Come From?

Today, we welcome back our popular guest writer, Renée Mineart.

Impossible is one of my favourite words. I like the word because it has a literal meaning, and a figurative meaning that we use on a regular basis. The thing is, people often think they are using the literal meaning when actually they are using the figurative meaning!

Keeping Up Morale While in Lockdown 

I hope you don’t mind if I divert slightly from the topics of User Acceptance Testing, Sprint Cycles and other software testing subjects, to discuss the very important topic of keeping up morale while in lockdown (a.k.a. being a bit silly).

In this time of global crisis, we must remember to laugh from time to time and remember that we are, at our core, social creatures.

Establishing Clear Communication Channels and Expectations

We’re fortunate in testing that we generally follow a well-defined process, have clear role definitions and test tools to support us. Our test tools record activity, manage planned and current activity, and support communication between teams and individuals. This is in the form of bugs and passed & failed tests. The process is there to steer us safely through difficult periods of a project when many people around us may be making irrational decisions.