Redefining my Role

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Confession: I am a nice person.

I'm the one that will check on people - and be concerned if someone is acting off. Or donate money to make sure the potluck I can't attend has everything it needs.

This has had an effect on my career: I was less willing to point out 'in public' errors in the code or things that just felt off to me while testing. And this stopped me from being the best tester I could be. Trying to be kind to someone that was having a rough patch, or simply not wanting to expose them to a potential attack was both me trying to get things correct, but care for them.

I've decided to embrace this aspect of myself, and shift my focus. Being 'nice' to the product, or company must include being the voice for both end users and the team. Finding things that will be difficult for them, confusing, or flat-out wrong is a major part of my job.

And this was also one reason I don't 'delight', at first, when something doesn't work as expected: I'm standing in for them, so confusion or anger (and on the better days, delight that something works, and gives me a better-than-expected experience) is the first reaction - and sometimes the second, too. I have high standards, and want them met with minimal fuss.

This has also added 'more work' for me: I'm communicating these expectations in planning documents, test plans, and in and on the tests themselves. This was a shift for me - there are times that these documents are not wanted up front, but are needed later. Having them out, where they can be discussed, looked at, and added to is a help to be certain that work is done correctly, and small things don't get missed.

My users are the focus - even if they aren't human. And that, by itself, requires a different outlook on testing. I'm happy I can still test, find the things that are not clear and usable, and advocate for them to be changed, updated, or removed.

My next challenge in this area is to remember that it isn't my role to make that final decision: I will point out, offer examples, and document the risk that I see. The decision of what to do with that information isn't my role - but I'm going to be nice, and make sure you have that information and a record of where it was found.