Being a good senior tester means having an opinion

There’s a prevailing narrative in testing that “testers only measure, they don’t assess (or have an opinion on) if something is good.” In my opinion being a good tester and trusted advisor certainly does mean having an opinion on how good something is.

If I were hiring for a senior tester, or looking to show that I was fit to be promoted into a senior role, I would be looking to show my opinions on things.

Having an opinion on fit for purpose

As a senior tester you’ll have influence over the strategy and approaches for testing; what tools and techniques are best for something. That means having an informed opinion as a specialist. We shouldn’t be passive and just doing what we’re told, instead we should be setting the scope and ways of working as we see fit.

If we don’t have an opinion on a tool, framework or technique’s use on our projects then we need to form one. That might mean running proof of concepts, or it might mean researching based on needs we identify. To do this successfully we need to have a view on what “good” looks like for testing and what would help us; not having an opinion would mean not knowing how to influence testing.

To not be opinionated on what good testing is usually means gaps in coverage and a lack of the right tools, leading to a perception that testing is “bad”.

Being a trusted advisor on how good something is

The realities of the industry is that companies usually hire testers to help them to assess how good something is. Product owners and stakeholders want advice on whether what’s built is good and what issues there are, rather than a dispassionate report on testing. That’s why a demo, debrief or quality narrative is always something desirable as an outcome of testing.

Testers are seen as having the most experience on what something does, how it works and if that’s good or bad. You’re trusted, empowered and encouraged to raise bugs and issues based on your opinions of the system (having to ask if everything is a bug would make you look really junior).

It may be that in huge hierarchical organisations that we are not as empowered; plus it is true that the accountability for “is it good” lies with the Product Owner. However in both of these situations it is a testers responsibility to be able to share critique and offer a view on how good the thing under test is.

To not be opinionated about how good the product is, or not to offer critique of it usually means uninformed decision making by stakeholders as they try to parse testing results. It also can leave gaps in coverage for testing as non-testers may miss areas that would contribute to how good something is.

It’s okay to have a different opinion from me

During community discussions or interviews, frequently testers come together to share opinions. Not all of those people have the same opinion as I do and that’s okay! Learning how to share an opinion with a reasoned argument and how to take an opinion different from your own is an important skill to have.

Often we can fall into a trap of “different opinion is bad” and this leads to monoculture, a lack of thinking and ultimately hurts quality (as diversity of thought aids quality).

I like when a tester has a different opinion to me and can rationale why that opinion makes sense for them. Maybe their context is different from mine or maybe I’m missing something. Recently I’ve had a few conversations about not thinking BDD and Gherkin were useful, where the other person saw them as really helpful. The difference being our own context and what we needed out of these tests and framework. Neither opinion was wrong, in fact our opinions showed how we’d been tailoring our approaches for our projects.

What’s important though is to have a reasoned opinion, rather than just parroting back the opinion of another without context. Hierarchy based on title, longevity of time as a tester or number of followers doesn’t mean that someone is unquestioningly right. Look at what they’re saying and see whether it meaningfully applies to your situation so that you can have an informed opinion.

Being more senior means being more opinionated

As you grow in seniority as a tester it means you have more influence and that means there’s an expectation on you to have opinions.

• How should we test this?
• What tools are fit for purpose?
• Is this enough testing?
• Are we safe to release?
• What should we test to be good enough?

You might not be told this (or even always asked this) but even when there’s no obvious pull for these opinions, there’ll be an expectation that you can make them. I’ve worked with teams where stakeholders have said “I wish the testers would be more opinionated” as they had an expectation that as specialists the testers would push these opinions to them.

Passivity of testing: using tools that others have selected, an approach someone else sets and a scope that you don’t question from others doesn’t show that you’re senior. To show that you have the skills and influence that a senior tester has, you should be supporting teams with your opinions and the rationale behind them (why we should be doing this). When hiring for a senior tester, I recommend looking for people that can show that they’ve had opinions, followed up on them and used them to influence testing and the quality of their products.

What’s your opinion, should testers be more than just measurers of things? Let’s discuss in the comments or on LinkedIn.