#ATAGTR2023 Speaker

The Art of Storytelling for Testers

As a tester, we are often tasked with finding defects and issues in software. However, our job is not just about uncovering bugs; it’s about communicating our findings to others so they can understand the impact of those bugs on the user experience. This is where storytelling comes in. Storytelling is the art of conveying information through a narrative that engages the listener and helps them understand the message. Through this talk, I want to educate the audience on the importance of storytelling for testers and how to learn and use it effectively. This talk will cover the below topics

Importance of Storytelling for Testers

Storytelling is an important skill for testers because it helps to convey complex technical information in a way that is easy to understand. When testing software, we are often working with technical jargon and complex systems that can be difficult for non-technical stakeholders to understand. By using storytelling techniques, we can help to simplify these concepts and make them more accessible

Additionally, storytelling helps to engage your audience and create a more memorable experience. When we are presenting our findings, it’s important to capture the attention of our audience and keep them interested in what we have to say. Storytelling allows us to do this by creating a narrative that draws the listener in and makes them invested in the outcome.

Finally, storytelling can help to build trust and credibility with our stakeholders. By presenting our findings in a clear and engaging way, we demonstrate our expertise and knowledge of the software. This can help to build trust with our stakeholders and increase their confidence in our ability to identify and address issues.

How to learn Storytelling as a Tester?

Learning the art of storytelling takes practice and patience. Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Know your audience: Before you start telling your story, it’s important to understand who your audience is and what they are interested in. This will help you tailor your narrative to their needs and interests.
2. Keep it simple: When telling a story, it’s important to keep the language and concepts simple and easy to understand. Avoid technical jargon and focus on the key messages you want to convey.
3. Use visual aids: Visual aids can be a powerful tool in storytelling. Use diagrams, charts, and other visual aids to help illustrate your points and make your narrative more engaging.
4. Practice, practice, practice: Like any skill, storytelling takes practice. Practice telling stories to friends and colleagues and solicit feedback on how to improve.
5. Incorporate emotion: Emotion is a powerful tool in storytelling. Use emotions such as humor, empathy, and excitement to help engage your audience and make your story more memorable.

How to use Storytelling as a Tester?

Once you have learnt the art of storytelling, it’s important to use it effectively in your role as a tester. Here are some tips that can help you use storytelling in your testing process:

1. Use stories to explain defects: When you find a defect in the software, use storytelling techniques to explain the impact of the defect on the user experience. For example, tell a story about how a user might be frustrated by a slow-loading page or confused by a poorly designed interface.
2. Use stories to communicate risks: Use storytelling to communicate the risks associated with a defect or issue. For example, tell a story about how a security vulnerability could lead to a data breach and the potential impact on the business.
3. Use stories to build rapport with stakeholders: Storytelling can be a powerful tool for building rapport with stakeholders. By sharing stories about your experiences with the software, you can demonstrate your expertise and build trust with your stakeholders.
4. Use stories to demonstrate the value of testing: Storytelling can help to demonstrate the value of testing to non-technical stakeholders. By telling stories about how testing has helped to improve the user experience or prevent potential issues, you can show the importance of testing in ensuring the quality of the software.
5. Use stories to pitch ideas: When proposing new testing strategies or tools, use storytelling to pitch your ideas. Tell a story about how a particular tool or approach has been successful in a similar situation, and how it could benefit your current project.
6. Use stories to motivate your team: Storytelling can also be used to motivate your testing team. Share stories of successful testing efforts and how they contributed to the success of the project. This can help to build morale and encourage your team to strive for excellence

Testing Tours – Structured Approach to Exploratory Testing

What are Testing Tours?

Imagine you are visiting a new city. Without a plan or a map, you would just be a wanderer. If you’re lucky you might ponder upon a very beautiful place, if not your time and effort would be wasted on some place which you don’t even like or enjoy.

Similarly, when learning about a product through exploration, without a structured approach, it is easy to get lost. We might stumble upon a bug and keep investigating further and lose track of time. We might be so immersed in one feature, that it is easy to lose focus and ignore the other features.

In order to make the most of our precious time and efforts and to truly acquaint ourselves with the intricacies of the product, a structured methodology becomes indispensable.

Testing Tours provide a structured and systematic approach to explore an application from various angles. Just like how a guided tour helps travelers explore different aspects of a city, Testing Tours guide testers through the application/product, helping them uncover its intricacies, functionalities, and potential risks. This approach helps testers to get familiar with the product (under test), thereby improving test coverage, and identifying critical areas and risks leading to better testing.

Why do we need Testing Tours?

When solving a puzzle, you don’t just focus on a single piece. You analyze the picture as a whole and then identify patterns, connections, and crucial pieces. Similarly, testing tours are like sorting pieces of the product. Each tour focuses on a perspective, helping you understand how different parts fit. As you complete tours, you gather insights about the product’s risks and complexities.

Once the tours are done, you have a clear view, guiding you to test thoroughly where needed, much like placing puzzle pieces strategically to complete the image. Just as sorting puzzle pieces aids assembly, testing tours structure exploration for better understanding and familiarity with the product.

Here are some key benefits of implementing testing tours in your testing practice:

• Comprehensive Test Coverage: Testing Tours offer an avenue for comprehensive exploration. Rather than being confined to fragmentary testing, this approach encourages us to try a variety of tours to get familiar with the product
• Anticipate Risks Proactively: Early identification of risks stands as a paramount advantage provided by Testing Tours. By charting a course that traverses the application’s landscape, potential pitfalls and vulnerabilities can be identified at the outset.
• Refined Prioritization: Testing Tours empower testers to weigh the significance of different components and attributes within the application through different perspectives. This informed prioritization aids in channeling efforts towards areas of heightened importance.
• Enhanced Effort Planning: Armed with a structured approach like Testing Tours, testers are equipped to plan their endeavors judiciously. This methodical strategy optimizes resource allocation and testing timelines.
• Bridging Product/Requirement Gaps: By systematically journeying through the application, testers can uncover product/requirement gaps that may otherwise remain unnoticed.

Who should attend this Workshop?

• This workshop is designed for
• Software Testers
• Test Leads
• Project Managers
• Anyone involved in the software testing process

It caters to both beginners and experienced testers who want to enhance their testing skills using a context-driven approach and learn how to effectively implement Testing Tours in their testing process.

What will this workshop cover?

This workshop draws its essence from Mike Kelly’s insightful blog post on Touring Heuristic, coupled with the rich content by Dr. Cem Kaner on Test Design on YouTube. Embracing the art of testing tours has notably enhanced our project endeavors. Now, at ATAGTR, we’re eager to seize this platform and extend our knowledge to the community, thereby enriching our collective testing proficiency.

This workshop will cover the practical demonstration of the touring heuristic – FCC CUTS VIDS with the following agenda:

Topic Wise Breakdown:

1. Introduction to Testing Tours (30 mins)

• Welcome and introduction to the workshop
• Exercise 1 (10 mins): Participants will be given a mission statement and a sample application and asked to perform exploratory testing
• Debrief the problems with unstructured exploratory tests
• Overview of Testing Tours and how they can help

2. Exploring Different Types of Tours (45 mins

Instructors will illustrate the mnemonic and provide a demonstration of a few of the tours using a sample application. (Ex. Spotify)

FCC (15 mins)

• Feature Tour
  • Explain the feature tour by moving through the features & controls of the sample application
• Complexity Tour:
  • Understand complexity and its impact on testing
  • Show the five most complex components of the sample application
• Claims Tour:
  • Discuss the importance of validating product claims
  • Demonstrate a claims tour of the sample application

CUTS (15 mins)

• Configuration Tour:
  • Exploring configurable settings and their implications
• User Tour:
  • Importance of considering diverse user perspectives
  • Define five distinct user profiles and their specific interests from the sample application.
• Testability Tour:
  • Identifying features that enhance testability
• Scenario Tour:
  • Creating realistic usage scenarios
  • Develop five realistic usage scenarios for the sample application.

VIDS (15 mins)

• Variability Tour
  • Understanding the impact of variables
• Interoperability Tour:
  • Assessing integration capabilities and potential compatibility issues
  • Test how the sample application interacts with external systems or components.
• Data Tour:
  • Importance of understanding how data is handled by the product
• Structure Tour:
  • Delving into the application’s physical composition

Exercise 2 (25 mins): Model the product using testing tours. Participants will be divided into groups and will be given one sample application to perform different testing tours and submit their findings. Their findings will be assessed by the instructors and appropriate feedback will be given

3. Conclusion (10 mins)

• More testing tours & resources
• Recap of key learnings and takeaways

4. Q&A session (10 mins)

Lab Requirements

1. Laptop & Internet connection
2. Willingness to learn