Ingo Philipp

Excellent Software Testing

Is your test automation just creating faster chaos? Learn to treat testing as a human-centric information service that enables better decisions.

Excellent Software Testing
#1about 3 minutes

Software testing is a thinking activity, not a tooling one

Tools are like glasses that help you see, but the real work of testing happens in your head as a cognitive process.

#2about 6 minutes

The goal of testing is to close the knowledge gap

Testing is an information service that reduces uncertainty about a product, enabling stakeholders to make better-informed decisions.

#3about 1 minute

Introducing Alice, the persona of an excellent software tester

The characteristics of excellent software testing are explored through the story of a fictional tester named Alice.

#4about 4 minutes

Testing is a social and human-centric science

An excellent tester understands that quality is subjective, bugs are rooted in human thinking, and automation must be strategically managed.

#5about 4 minutes

Adapting testing practices to context and purpose

Effective testing requires adapting techniques to the specific context and evaluating the software's purpose, not just its specification.

#6about 3 minutes

Learning from history and collaborating with the team

Testers should build a learning culture from past mistakes and involve the entire team's brainpower, while accepting testing's inherent limitations.

#7about 3 minutes

Viewing testing as experimentation and stakeholder empathy

Testing is an adaptive investigation that challenges assumptions and requires understanding diverse stakeholder perspectives to properly assess risk.

#8about 3 minutes

The power of curiosity and critical thinking in testing

Asking simple questions, balancing cost against risk, and maintaining a healthy skepticism are essential for uncovering deep issues.

#9about 5 minutes

Communicating results and providing quality assistance

A tester's role is to communicate problems with empathy, tell a clear story about the testing process, and assist others in improving quality.

#10about 2 minutes

Excellent testing is fast, credible, and accountable

The story of Alice is a composite of many excellent testers, and true expertise comes from learning from the giants in the field.

Related jobs
Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.

Featured Partners

Related Videos

See all videos
How will artificial intelligence change the future of software testing?45:24

How will artificial intelligence change the future of software testing?

Evelyn Haslinger

How not to test 43:07

How not to test

Golo Roden

Continuous testing - run automated tests for every change!47:22

Continuous testing - run automated tests for every change!

Christian Kühn

Why you must use TDD now!30:55

Why you must use TDD now!

Alex Banul

Your Testing Strategy is broken - lets fix it!28:12

Your Testing Strategy is broken - lets fix it!

Luise Freese

Write tests you love, not hate56:49

Write tests you love, not hate

Jens Happe

How Unit Testing Saved My Career26:33

How Unit Testing Saved My Career

Annelore Egger

Test-reduction - Doing more with less23:40

Test-reduction - Doing more with less

Ewald Verhoeven

From learning to earning

Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.

Software tester

Friedhelm Loh Stiftung & Co. KG
Monheim am Rhein, Germany