Akashwani - Voice from the Sky

I learn/unlearn something new everytime I visit a Bank/ATM/Post Office. I had been to HDFC bank recently to open a Term Deposit. While submitting the application form, I was told that my PAN number was not updated in the bank records(I had given my PAN number at the time of Account opening. Wonder what they did with that?) and that PAN card photocopy was mandatory to make a Term Deposit. I walked away disappointed that I had to visit the bank again. A few minutes later, I got back to office, logged into my HDFC netbanking account website, filled the Term Deposit form and hit 'Submit'. Wow. Term Deposit accepted!

Oracles are very helpful to identify problems in circumstances where the products are inconsistent in their behavior in one way or the other. An Oracle is a principle or mechanism by which we recognize a problem. We can identify that there is a problem with a product if there is an:

1. Inconsistency with its history
2. Inconsistency with the organization's image
3. Inconsistency with Comparable products
4. Inconsistency with the Claims made about the product by very important people
5. Inconsistency with User Expectations
6. Inconsistency with Presumed or Intended purpose
7. Inconsistency with Standards and Statutes
8. Inconsistency with itself in two or more places

Here is an interesting fact about Oracles from India. In ancient India, an Oracle was known as Akashwani, literally meaning "Voice from the Sky" and was related to the message of God. Emotions(Voice from within YOU!) of a Tester play a key role in using oracles effectively. It enables the Tester in going through the same feelings that an end user or potential customer would go through while using the product. The outcome of these feelings can either construct/destruct the future of that product. Get Emotional while testing because its a powerful tool.

Listen to Akashwani - the Voice within YOU,
Happy Testing,
Pari

Addendum on 8th Oct 2012
Being a Woman and a mom of 2 children, I find it extremely normal to be forgetful of many things in life. Forgetting a few things helps as it avoids burning down energy on some useful and some not-so-useful stuff. One such thing happened last week. I forgot my netbanking password. Again, one of the banks I bank with provides following options to regenerate the password:

1. Generate the password online instantly
2. Generate the password online instantly after two level authentication process
3. Generate the password by submitting a form online
4. By calling them on their support line
5. By visiting the bank and raising a request

Options (3), (4) and (5) obviously come with delays. I started with option (1). Here goes my experience:

While generating the password, I keyed in all details after which I was asked to select my Debit card number. The debit card number continued to reflect the old debit card number issued to me by my first company and not the recent one I had.

I jumped to option (2). Still, the same problem. Interestingly, my first debit card had expired and I had got a new one. Another interesting part is the fact that my second girl had hid my debit card in her secret cupboard  (TV cabinet). I had blocked it thinking I had lost it :-). No card, no netbanking option, no money!

I received a new debit card a week later which I activated by using in the ATM. Immediately, I rushed back to my netbanking page. My account continues to reflect my first debit card. I am procrastinating about checking (4) and (5) for now. Good reason to take a day off! :P

Keep listening to this Akashvani. Lots of stuff coming!

Regards,

Parimala Hariprasad

Book Review: Are you a Buccaneer-Scholar?

I just finished reading James Bach’s new book ‘The Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar’. It is a MUST READ for all the Learners out there, not just Testers! James gives away a lot of his Time Tested Secrets for the betterment of the Learning Community. He also advices the readers to become Buccaneer-Scholars and how wonderful it is to get there and be there just as the true Buccaneers thrived!

This book also helps the readers to learn what to LEARN, why to LEARN and how to LEARN. It is a MUST HAVE/MUST READ for Testers. Can’t wait to buy the hard copy of this book! I am also tempted to read James Bach’s other books now!

Happy Testing,
Pari – http://curioustester.blogspot.com

Never Give Up – Atleast I did not!

Recently, RaviSuriya who is one of my blog readers reported two observations that he had encountered on my blog which are listed below:

1.‘Subscription Links' gadget not displaying all the 6 available options to Subscribe for Posts and Comments
2.Date field was missing for one of the posts on the blog

There were a few email exchanges between me and Ravisuriya during which I gathered information about his observations. I was very glad when he sent over a detailed investigation report for the first issue.

Whew! I had got some food for my brain. I started off on my second attempt at Session Based testing. This time around, I was very firm on working in isolation so that I would not be interrupted for any reason whatsoever.

Day 1 – Just played around the blogspot.com features on my blog as well as by creating a brand new dummy blog and noted some basic observations using OFAT (testing One Factor at a Time)*

Day 2 – Started testing blogspot.com with regard to the above 2 behaviours, this time using MFAT(testing Multiple Factors at a Time). Spent around 5 hours testing different scenarios and each time I discovered something new about the behaviors. It was taking a lot of time to pinpoint when exactly the above behaviors were encountered. The report of this amazing testing experience is HERE.

*Factors in this case would refer to Widgets on blogspot.com.

Token of Thanks: I thank Ravisuriya for reporting the above 2 behaviours. In general, I am amazed by the openness of the Context Driven Testing Community to take time to read fellow testers’ blogs, share their personal opinions/views, provide live examples to learn, and in the meantime encourage countless upcoming testers to pursue testing with utmost passion. A Big Thank You to all the Context Driven Testers who are selflessly helping a lot of fellow testers knowingly and/or unknowingly. I foresee a wonderful Testing World already of which we all are part of or going to be part of.

"There is only one way to learn, It's through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey” – from the book ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho.

Keep your feedback pouring in here :-)
Happy Testing,
Pari - http://curioustester.blogspot.com/

I failed miserably!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to practice what I learnt from the ET Workshop that I had attended. I picked a feature in the product that was not tested by me in the past.

Here goes my report:
1. Played around with the feature for better understanding
2. Brainstormed a few test ideas for testing that feature
3. Shortlisted a few areas/sub-features to be tested(used an Excel Checklist)
4. Created a text file similar to the one used in Session Based Test Management report which included Mission, Date and Time, Observations and Issues sections (rough draft at this point)
5. Started testing the feature. It was just 1 minute later when my manager informed me of an urgent unscheduled meeting. 30 minutes gone! Back from the meeting and moved the mouse over the feature and 2 developers standing next to me expecting me to help them understand a trivial UI issue which I had explained in a clear and precise manner in my defect report. 5 minutes gone.
6. Got back to testing and an urgent request for reviewing the product guide!
7. Stopped testing without any actual testing and ended up with an empty report

Doesn’t it look like our traditional test case procedure executed pointlessly and without ample reasoning. I was ignorant of the several interruptions that could happen while I Time Box myself for testing a small feature. I failed miserably at my attempt to do Exploratory Testing in a session based manner the first time. Each time I fail, I am happy to believe that it is an opportunity to learn. The faster you fail, the quicker you succeed.

Watch this space for more is coming :-)
Happy Testing,
Pari

Life is a constant learning experience!

Life is a constant learning experience. The more I learn, the more better I become. I am just back from the Exploratory Testing Workshop conducted by Pradeep Soundararajan. Am I enlightened? Yes. Have I become an Expert Tester after this? NO. Not even a good tester yet(Let me clarify I hold myself in very high self esteem)

This was the first workshop I attended and a workshop in the truest sense( A workshop is a brief intensive course of education for a small group which emphasizes interaction and practical problem solving as per Wiktionary). I had just ONE major takeaway in this workshop. And that was ‘Practice, Practice and More Practice’.

How many of us practice testing? This question appears to challenge human ego. Atleast it does to me. To be honest, how many of us practice testing? We are busy understanding the product/application given to us to test at Work, write test cases, get them reviewed, modify the test cases based on review comments and by the time we come to the actual test execution stage, we are nearing a dangerous thing called ‘Release Deadline’ and then end up doing shabby testing. In the midst of all this, where is the time to practice testing? There is no shortcut to being an expert tester. If you are a tester who has a passion to test until you retire, then Dear Tester - Practice Testing.

I was very impressed by one fellow participants’ overall knowledge. I asked him how he had gained this knowledge. He just looked into my eyes and said ‘Just Look Around’.


Happy Testing,
Pari - http://curioustester.blogspot.com

Customer is KING and KING never bargains

The above sentence was a signboard at a clothing store that I visited recently. I do believe that ‘Customer is KING’. What I did not know was that KING never bargains (probably, the person who hung up that signboard thought that the KING should NOT bargain so he could make more profits!). If customer is believed to be a KING, there could be times when the so called KING could pick up whatever he/she wants and walk away without paying just because he is a KING or probably ask for a reasonable discount. Howz That?

Customer is definitely a KING in the real world. Customers are in a position to pay for what they want. However, the customers are not stupid to pay for something that is not delivered to them as per their expectations. The product management/sales/marketing teams do a tremendous job in advertising for the products. What these teams don’t realize is that they may be setting very high expectations of the product in the minds of the customers. Once the Customer is happy with the Proof of Concept and gives a Go Ahead for implementation, there will be hell lot of surprises because the customer would have thought that certain features exist already whereas the product management/sales/marketing teams would have assumed that they can get the engineering teams to develop those features in no time. All this after the customer has signed to buy the product.

Lets face it. Customer bargains and bargains madly!

Regards,
Pari - http://curioustester.blogspot.com