Software testing is an integral part of the software development life cycle, ensuring the delivery of high-quality products to end-users. While software testers, much like their developer counterparts, may lean towards introversion, effective communication is crucial for project success. In her book “Guide to Advanced Software Testing,” Anne Mette Hass sheds light on communication challenges faced by software testing teams and offers insights into overcoming them.
In the realm of Agile software development, particularly with approaches like Scrum, communication among team members and with external stakeholders becomes paramount. Testers find themselves communicating with various individuals across different organizational units internally and externally, including customers. Hass emphasizes that communication is inherently challenging due to the diverse factors that shape individuals, such as personalities, upbringing, and experiences.
Understanding the diversity within a team is a key step in improving communication. Testers must consider factors like personality types, educational backgrounds, and working conditions when interacting with team members. Additionally, acknowledging that communication is a two-way street, testers need to adapt their communication style to cater to the audience, recognizing that different teams speak different “languages.” For example, management speaks the language of “money,” users focus on “functionality and quality,” and developers are fluent in “technique.”
The most critical communication lines in software testing teams involve interactions with project management, developers, and users.
- Project Management Communication:
- Test managers often handle communication with project management.
- Key topics include expectations, resources, constraints, quality criteria, and changes in plans.
- Documentation, such as test strategy, plans, progress reports, and summary reports, forms the basis of communication, supplemented by verbal exchanges.
- Development Communication:
- Test analysts and designers typically communicate with the development team.
- Development informs testing about complex areas, new development, updates, special attention requirements, changes in requirements, delivery schedule changes, and difficulties during development.
- Delicate issues, such as failures found, problems during retesting, and concerns about failures, require diplomatic communication to improve product quality.
- User Communication:
- Users may interact with various testing roles based on organizational structure.
- Users provide valuable information regarding product expectations, risk areas, risk assessments, important areas from the user perspective, and background information about the business and processes.
- Test results are often shared with users, necessitating assistance for interpretation, especially for those with limited testing knowledge.
Throughout these communication channels, Hass emphasizes the need for diplomacy and the understanding that communication is a collaborative effort. Information should be conveyed with the intent of enhancing product quality rather than assigning blame.
In conclusion, effective communication is the cornerstone of successful software testing. By recognizing the nuances of team members, adapting communication styles, and fostering collaborative dialogue, software testing teams can overcome challenges and contribute significantly to the success of the overall software development process.
