Posted by
Amit Kulkarni [Admin]
| Posted in
application
,
fair
,
issue
,
speak
,
user
| Posted on
11/14/2009 07:06:00 PM
A tester's job is makes sure that the application they are testing is working fine under the normal scenarios. How many times we've seen testers and developers arguing on an issue where in tester is saying that it is a bug and developer is saying it is not! The argument continues.......
I speak for the user - this is the most common reason from any tester when any argument takes place. It is feasible as long as a tester is fighting for the most obvious issues, but how about the scenarios which a user may not even try. Developers do not have any problem fixing obvious issues, but what about the scenarios which the tester tries which a user may not even try in their life. How many times in a meeting for project a tester says that the user hates such issues and I am speaking on behalf of them. The next question someone may ask - whether the user has appointed you as their agent?
If you always come up with this excuse for your issue that the user will hate it then obviously that makes the developers unhappy. Testers work differently than that of the users as they want to make sure that application works fine for all the cases. But then is it fair? I have seen, heard or been a part of meeting where such argument takes place. You assume that the scenario you have tried will be tried by the user and if it is not fixed that will be a loss. Is that so? Think again.
As a tester we need to change the most common sentence while justifying any issue – “I speak for the user.”
Best Regards,
Amit
testing is my passion!!!!
http://bugteaser.blogspot.com
It's good to intend speak for the user. But how do you know you're doing that?
Who else might speak for the user? What if they disagree with you?
What if the most important thing for your business is something other than what the user wants?
Here's another way you might choose to deal with a circumstance in which you and the programmer (developer? aren't we all developers?) disagree. It's really not up to either one of you, is it? Isn't the decision up to the product owner?
While discussing things with programmers okay, arguing is unlikely to be terribly helpful. If you're stuck, bear in mind that neither of you might have all the information, but that wasting time on arguing isn't likely to be helpful to the business. So why not let the product owner decide?
All the best,
---Michael B.
In general I feel that testers do not equate to users and vice versa. Testers have a different mindset when putting their hands on a product or app. Familiarity with products, the environment, technical knowledge, etc, all give testers a different view of a product than a user. I suppose a so-called 'power user' would be the closest thing on the user side.
I feel the closest a tester can get to being a user is to sit them down in front of a product or app they have not seen before. I don't think that happens too often in an enterprise setting.