“Business-Facing Tests that Critique the Product”
- Critiquing or evaluating the product is what business users or tester do when they assess and make judgement about the product.
- These are the tests performed in Quadrant 3 of our Agile Testing Quadrants
- It is difficult to automate Business facing tests that critique the product, because such testing relies on human intellect, experience, and insight.
- You won’t have time to do any Quadrant 3 tests if you haven’t automated tests in Quadrants 1 and 2.
- Evaluating or critiquing the product is about manipulating the system and trying to recreate the actual experience of end users.
Demonstrations
- Show customers what you are developing early & often.
- End-of-iteration demos are important to see what has been delivered and revise priorities
- Rather than just waiting for end of sprint demos, use any opportunity to demonstrate changes as you go.
- Choose a frequency of demos that works for your team. Informal demos can be more productive
Scenario Testing – Business users can help define plausible scenarios & workflows that can mimic end user behavior
Soap Opera Testing – Term coined by Hans Buwalsa (2003) can help the team understand business & user needs. Ask “What’s the worst thing that can happen, and how did it happen?”
Exploratory Testing
- As an investigative tool, it is a critical supplement to the story tests and our automated regression suite.
- Sophisticated, thoughtful approach to testing without a script, combining learning, test design and test execution
Usability Testing
There are 2 types of usability testing. The first is done up front by user experience folks, using tools such as wire frames to drive programming. These are part of Quadrant 2.
The second type talks about the kind of usability testing that critiques the product. We use tools such as User Personas and our Intuition to help us look at the product with the end user in mind.
API Testing
Instead of just thinking about testing interfaces, we can also look at APIs and consider attacking the problem in other ways and consider tools like simulators & emulators.
Testing Documentation
User manuals & online help need validation just as much as software. Your team may employ specialists like technical writers who create & verify documentation. The entire team is responsible for the quality of documentation.
testwithnishi 
[…] Chapter-10 Business facing tests that Critique the product […]
LikeLike