MIS-S-TAKE

OOOO…, as scripted in my previous post, I really had a long break but my learning process had enough(sometimes more than enough) to digest.

“Rough patches always teach you many lessons” -> I had many patches to scribble about… and I am here now with some of my mistakes (that will not be a nice idea!!!) but considering the fact that, it will help OTHERS.. I will unzip some of my mistakes in upcoming “MISS TAKE” posts..

Once, I was in a situation to set up some critical Testing trap, with all necessary matching criteria, I decided to do it myself because explaining the trap to someone and seeking their help will be a time consuming process.

I have started setting up the trap in a hurry(time is always a constrain) and as always, I had some time left after setting up all the things, so I shared the core of the trap with one of my colleague(fortunately) with intent of sharing my testing knowledge (and also to show my testing EGO.. ), --> But then came my downfall..

He figured out a vital misStake which would have easily spoiled my entire testing.

In the making, I had to execute a system command that will trigger things in backend and send back a message “Everything has been executed successfully”. I executed that system command and I got the cheers message “Everything has been executed successfully”… BUT in the backend the required thing doesn’t happen.. :(

Yes of course, Testers should not believe in any system (even though it is not the built to test).

I am really worried after that incident and the reason is simple that I would have re- checked/assured everything went well behind the screen as well.

Its really important to recheck and assure that we have done a nice job because it will definitely save time and extra effort.So I came to a conclusion that, I want to make sure everything I do for testing purpose should be double checked. But how to assure that you have checked + rechecked your test activities.

Old idea but evergreen .. Checklist ..
Don’t take it in a wrong way, I am not saying you to do checklist testing but to use a checklist just to make sure you test everything perfectly…:)

I have implemented the above in some of my daily activities and it really works.. there will be “n” number of ideas to fix any issue.. hopefully one of you can help me out with something new and innovative... :)

Some interesting Q’s on mistakes..
a)If you commit a mistake then it indicates that you are working (not Idle).

b)When others make mistakes, we say “they are incapable”, but when we make mistakes we say “we learn from mistakes” -> tweeted by Viru … I hope, he has learnt so much from his patches…. Just for fun … :)

Be united to be an Independent.

Happy Independence day.

Lets key down our mistakes to help ourselves and others,
Venkat
All izz well….
Catch me @kpvenkatesan84@gmail.com

Discover the pattern...

“There will be some non-reproducible bugs” – This was my initial belief until that “T” break.

10 minutes before that “T” break:
At that time, I was part of a testing team which was given the task to test an application, which was already tested by a team (second phase) and we had their test report. A bug was mentioned in a column named “Non-reproducible bugs” of that test report.

My first instinct on seeing that report was “This is not a reproducible bug so we can't reproduce this bug" and not to my surprise, the whole team(including our team lead had the same thought on non-reproducible bugs).

->“venkat, lets go down for T”(in Tamil). that was Mr.X (Identity under cover).

During T :
We shared so many things (starting from how we can kill our time(holidays) in gulf to our Indian cricket team) and when our topic squeezed into our work, I shared the above non-reproducible bug column, the next moment his face turned sick and he said “These testers are so incapable that they couldn’t reproduce a bug”.

With little fear-factor, I asked him if a bug can’t be simulated again, then what’s wrong in categorizing it as a non-reproducible bug?

He smiled at me and said “Each and every bug can be reproduced. Only due to some constrains(like time and considering the severity of that bug. It will be deferred/ put into that “Non-reproducible” column)”. Take it from me, every bug will definitely have one/more patterns. Simple/hard thing is “you have to find that pattern”.
He also said “Don’t believe in all those theories and shutter yourself at this initial stage of your career”.

I nodded my head as reply and we departed.[ he(42 yrs old) ran through the steps but I slowly headed upstairs].

After T break :
I have decided not to work on that non-reproducible bugs immediately, so I postponed that to post-lunch and during lunch time, I shared that thought to my fellow tester, he laughed at me and said “Don’t waste your time buddy” but post-lunch, I again stressed him “Mate, lets try that out”.
It took a lot from three of us (nearly 1hr and 20 minutes of questions, tricks and guess works, tackling traps..).

Actions performed: (we haven’t planned anything at that time, but now I can relate those things to below).
a) Gathered maximum information from that tester, who logged the bug(we asked him to sit with us) .
b) Analyzed test data (To find whether this bug sparks out only when we use some kind of test data).
c) Random usage of that particular functionality (with proper log).
d)Prepared various patterns(guess works- Functional/non -Functional).

Finally, The tester, who logged the defect helped us to discover the exact pattern to reproduce that bug ... :) and we all three had that victorious faces but the credit goes to Mr.X (hope, I can catch up with him again).

-> Reproducing a bug is as important as of finding a bug.
So if you have a non-reproducible bug column in your test report, please remove it and start discovering and once you have decided to discover the pattern, I am sure, you will meet that irregular bug at least once and after that it will be just a matter of uncovering it...

Have a break........ :)

Lets discover,
Venkat.
All izz well.
Catch me @ Kpvenkatesan84@gmail.com.

M -ve

Have you ever heard of people having “M” as their blood group? You are right ->MANAGERS….

I hope, you can catch, what is M+ve and M-ve mean?. -> Yes, the sword is on “Manager’s Attitude”.

Here is a strange story(not so strange for some people) -> A testing team under a manager(immediate superior) who doesn’t know testing !!!!!!!!!!!!!????...

When I say “manager doesn’t know testing, it's not about millions of testing definitions(or) different testing approaches but the impact of testing which is the key from manager’s perspective.

It is not the question of, who is capable of taking the manager’s role?? But whether the managers are willing to learn or not????? It is very crucial for a manager to align with the team to know his/her team's activities and more importantly the team's impact in the whole picture.

How many managers can say, they know in/out of their team’s activities????????—>Many… but hope people will agree with me that, there were some, who doesn’t even bother to know the activities of their own team, they simply think that, managing the metrics will do it for them…

Then what is their role as a manager????? (just to approve leaves and to provide appraisal ratings!!!!!!!- on what basis????)..

These managers who doesn’t know the objective and impact of his/her team’s work will definitely rate their team members depending upon metrics and statistics, sometimes even number of defects irrespective of its severity will fetch you platinum rating... :)
Personally, I feel numbers(ratings) doesn’t matter. but the fact is.. it will have impact of its own.. money -> huge impact, position.... hopefully list will go on and on…

Unless these managers change their attitude, this issue can't be sorted out. Managers should not get stagnated & say “From now on, I will work only with outlook and excel sheets”. Instead they should be willing to learn more, which will in turn make their whole team to learn more….

I'm reminded of a beautiful quote by John Quincy Adams:
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." These italic blue lines were stolen from a cricket column written by akash chopra….:)

Even if you can’t inspire your team, you can just Shift+dlt your trust on micro-management, believe in you and your team, that will do wonders-> this was not stolen, it’s mine.. :)

Team: If your immediate manager has M-ve, pull up yourself and act fast to change his/her attitude if that is not feasible (M's EGO...) at least don’t allow his negative attitude to seed in you.

Impact for organization: Immediate managers will reflect company’s brand value for their team and If he/she has good attitude then the team will have a great image on company and if he/she is bad then simple, they will update their resume and knock the next door…..:)

P.S : All the above points were not only specific to Managers with M –ve, but also applicable to all who are having negative attitude, But If a manager have this M-ve then, it will definitely affect the entire team. I hope, people with M+ve will never ever care on the above……

Have a great attitude ……… :)

Cheers,
Venkat.
All izz well………

Catch me @ kpvenkatesan84@gmail.com

Resume Testing !!!!???

Recently(some weeks back…),I have read an article which said “ Testers have mistakes in their own resume - and if they are not able to test their own resume then...??!!!!” I don’t remember the article name and by whom? (I really have a bad memory, when I surf through….).

Is there a rule that, once a product is tested, it should not have any defects??????... and is there any process to be followed for "RESUME TESTING"?????

Lets take it in a common pool …

Below were quite some pins that struck me....... when i was about to update my resume...

It is so hard to find fault in your own product !!! resume is our own product and we developed it. even someone can say “you have to test it as if the product(resume) developed to someone else….” But I don’t think that is 100% possible simply because we are humans not TRANSFORMERS!!!...

This is a product(resume) which has millions of opinions/ views and I can bet you that, each person will come up with their own remarks which will be contrast to one another on any resume.

Common remark will be on something like number of pages….. how many pages should your resume have??? (someone will say depends upon your experience!!! – I don’t agree..)
Someone will say, let resume be only of two pages and explain all you have in the interview.. you know what – these resumes will never cross first screening (don’t argue that I got through with two pages – this is my view and it happened with some of India’s top most companies - not to me, but to my friend) I am sure that “Everyone who reads this post will have their own opinion and view on this post” and this is what exactly happens with our resume.

Even you can get your resume reviewed by your mentor/someone who is really great in all perspective or a great tester in resume domain!!!.. :) but I will tell you that unless the guy who is holding your resume thinks “this resume is ok” , your resume can’t sneak through.

It doesn’t mean that you can take a white paper with your best drawing to impress the person, who is going to hold your resume. :)

Spelling mistakes in resume… we can assign this to spell check option but I don’t know who tested this spell check option!!!!!(but according to me, no one will like to see spelling mistakes in your resume that’s for sure…so be aware of that- I don’t know how many spelling mistakes were there in my posts!!!! ).

All the above pins makes testing your resume, a harder task .. and you can tend to do a mistake.

It doesn't mean that "you are a BAD TESTER, simply because you have a mistake in your resume".Humans should do mistakes .......and learn from it...(i think all testers are humans...) and is there a tester? who can say " i have tested it and it will not have any defect"..same happens with your resume.

So don't believe in - Testing your resume is a process with benchmarks and criterias.. if i miss something then they will stamp me as a "BAD TESTER".

.

According to me, resume is just a “business card” which will tell something about you and your profession but evaluating a person’s ability with resume is not just right until the recruitment is for resume designing :) – this is to people sitting in interview panel.

So atlast what we have to do to make a perfect resume????
(test it based on six sigma!!! :) so that we get an Oscar/or at least a job for us......????)

My answer will be - I DON’T KNOW…………………….. This is what I ended up with, when I tried to tailor my resume..

I know a person(Old friend-quite older than me), who got rejected in a resume screening process by one of the best company, but got an offer with the same resume from another top company. So the concern is only whether your resume looks good to you or not?....

“STICK TO YOUR OWN WAY, WHATEVER YOU THINK IS RIGHT” and the logic is simple “Fortune favors the bravo”.

All the best……………………for your Oscar/new job.

P.S: Still I haven’t finished my resume updation, "I should have done that instead of spending time in this post ……. :) ”.

Enjoy your day ahead....

Have fun,
Venkat.
All izz well……….

Catch me @kpvenkatesan84@gmail.com

Chennai Super Kings Missing…….

We are only few days away from the start of a grand sporting event/Business event --> Indian Premier League 2010 which will be back in India this year. *Cricket fever catching up in a rapid speed, as sachin scored first ODI 200* and everyone will be eager to catch another masterclass in T20.

From my end, I have decided to book my tickets and cheer my favorite teams(more than one……MI,RCB,DC and CSK!!!!).

I have missed the event twice, last year it was executed out of India and in the first version- just opposite, I am out of India. So this time around,I am not going to miss it.

So what next ?????

I have logged into IPL’s official website http://www.iplt20.com/. I was in a hurry ....so I directly clicked the BUY TICKETS tab which took me to a page with three tabs-->By team, By venue and By date.

Under “By team” tab there was a dropdown box with ”Select Team” as default value.

And as you all know, I am from tamilnadu and I want to select “Chennai super kings” led by a non-tamilian(!!!) but proudly an Indian(MSD).

I dropped the list……

To my surprise………….

The team list doesn’t have my home team Chennai Super kings!!!!!!!!


Second chance -->now “By venue tab” which has “Select Venue” as default option.

And again I dropped the list….

And it again surprised me rather disappointed me.ohhhh….

The list doesn’t contain Chennai- M.A. Chidambaram Stadium!!!!!!!!

And the third chance and this time -->”BY date” and I have selected a date 06th of April 2010(CSK vs Mumbai Indians- wish to see the maestro sachin in action…)

And the system displayed only an message “There is no event schedule in this date”.

So “CSK is missing in all tabs” and where should I book my tickets to see my favorite players and stars!!...

One of my friend pointed out that, in the first IPL edition, the list has CSK and when selected, the system redirected to Chennai Super King’s homepage to book the tickets.
But this time CSK is not in the list…..!!!!!

It may be a decision from Chennai super kings to sell their tickets only through their official website http://www.chennaisuperkings.com/ which has ticket booking option in its homepage.(from my side-I am not going to miss out Sachin,Dravid,Gilly and of course PZ and SRK……)

In my previous post, I have mentioned how important to know the behind screen story of a live product before commenting on it.

Oh… before I forget, I have to admit and stress one thing “ If there is a bug in the product which was not supposed to be and is there in a place which the users are likely to notice - it is not just the tester who is responsible but the whole team that worked on it”. The above is a comment for my previous post by our own veteran tester pradeep.

That is completely true and I think, I might have missed my stress on the above (i.e) the whole team is responsible in my previous post.

So please take a note of that………………..

And who knows, it may be BUSINESS again which might have played a vital role in the above issue..……

Enjoy the crazy cricketing event…..

Cheers,
Venkat.
All izz well…

Catch me @kpvenkatesan84.com

Million dollar Issue…………………IS IT SO??????

“Step into an ATM (I think, u know which bank’s) and brush your debit card.Enter a wrong PIN, OOPS! ATM displays the options and allows you to select!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

ATM doesn’t tell you that “you have entered a wrong PIN” and ultimately when you go on and select any options say for example (Cash Withdrawal/Mini statement), then the system will say “Hey,hold on.. you have entered an incorrect PIN”.

I know,you people will say ”stop this.. we have heard this thousand times before” and I hope almost every tester could have tried this out + commented on the tester who tested it.

Is the above scenario was really a tester’s failure??????? I am sure that, Many will say “YES”.

Reasons could be simple-->
a)you expect the system to say “Entered PIN is incorrect” at the first attempt and also not to take you to the page which has options availed by the bank.

b)Most importantly, some other Bank’s ATM (again u know which bank’s) behaves as per your expectations (ie) it will directly say ”incorrect PIN” at the first attempt and it will not take you to options screen.

I hope, you all will agree with one important fact that “There is NO functional hole” then why nobody(bank) is not showing any concern to correct this simple thing(puzzle remains???).

I will share the explanation(I got/ gathered) and I think, this is my responsibility to break the shackles and say “Hey, its not a tester’s failure” --> i will tell u why?


I have tested(FLASH KACB) a newly introduced card(one of these->ATM/CREDIT/DEBIT) which includes testing of ATM transactions(both Financial/non-financial).

And in due course, I have met the long awaited above discussed issue (???) even though I noticed, I have not taken it as an issue. Surprised!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that is true but ask me why? because it was according to the requirement and design document!!!!????.

However when I slide over the document(not first time, may be nth time), I was also taken by surprise, as you people and even tempted, by the way the requirement/design documents framed and I decided to dig out the reason.

I got my turn..
An questionnaire session in another module of the card provided me that opportunity to hang my question in front of all business and technical people(who would have involved while framing the documents).

And the answer I got from a gentleman is

“It was Deliberately Done”

Sorry, can you please come again? was my response and he again said ”Deliberately Done”.

Deliberately done---? Below is the explanation which I got/gathered(I think which i will share with u guys).

Technical explanation:

Older Version:

PIN verification will be done twice…!!!!!

Let me explain in two different scenarios.

A-> Enter an incorrect PIN:
When you enter an incorrect PIN, the PIN verification program will be called(First time) and the PIN will be verified. This is the case with ATMs which directly gives you “ INCORRECT PIN” and it will not take you through the bank’s availed options (Remember the sub heading->Old version!!)

B->Enter a valid PIN:
Enter a valid PIN, the verification program will be called (First time) and once the PIN is verified, it will take you to options page(withdrawal, pin change ..etc) and if you select any option say ”withdrawal” then again the PIN verification program will be called (second time), the PIN is validated. Now the system will allow you to do your transaction. However the PIN verification program is called twice.

New Version:

Then what is this new version all about?????

Quite simple…

PIN verification will be done only once.

When you enter a PIN (correct/incorrect), PIN will be saved in a buffer space and then the system throws you the options screen. When you select an option, PIN verification program will be called but only once for validating the entered PIN.
This will avoid the extra call made to the PIN verification program(Cost/Performance) effective.

Business Touch:
An another advantage of this newer version from a business point of view is irrespective of valid/invalid PIN the customer is exposed to the options availed by the bank.(it may sound silly, but it is true- in some regions, ATM is very new and people don’t know what is the use of it).

Extra information: I heard that every bank is opting for the newer version so very soon all ATMs will allow you till options page….even with an incorrect PIN.

Compliment: I take this as an opportunity to thank my friend Sudersan (Developer) who confirmed the above.

One question which I have raised after all above explanation given to me(Untitledtester’s ego?):
Myself: Customer might feel uncomfortable since user doesn’t know what went wrong in his first PIN and not even an instant error message?

Business answer: That will not be an issue because users will not hesitate to re-enter a valid PIN and that will make them fell more secured and the user is exposed to the options availed by the bank this will make the user more familiar to bank And moreover the user is getting the error message with prompt to re-enter the valid PIN.

For instant message:Bank will not give an overlapped screen with options and an error message.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For your information- This is a specific requirement that, to call PIN verification program only once.

My Question to people (only who questions tester's work): If the above mentioned new version is a specific requirement for all banks which has an older version. how can you expect a tester to file it as an issue and take forward????

So how crucial is to know the requirements before testing a live product(which was already tested). Lets unzip that issue, may be in the next screening.(who knows the hidden surprise waiting for you in the very next second?).

Expected version of requirement:
(to be frank the below struck me when I was drafting the above--too late…)
Why can’t we show directly the options, when the card is dipped in and than ask for a PIN when the user selects the option. I hope this will fill all requirements. (I don’t know whether designers will agree because it will be their call).
But I hope someone will give me explanation for this ……………….

Lets Explain,
Venkat
All izz well..



You can catch me@ kpvenkatesan84@gmail.com

MY FIRST BLOG – Reasonable Reasons….

Greetings/Cheers to all.

I am really thrilled to write my first blog and as every other blogger, I am also expecting a very tough journey ahead.

I have already waited for quite some time to kick start the proceedings so let my introduction wait for some time.

HERE WE GO…………………….

This(My blog- UNTITLEDTESTER) is not a reflection of “Everyone is writing why can’t I” and surely not about showcasing my testing abilities(because I am still in initial stage of my testing career - Ocean to drink..)

Then why I have started all this?????

Here are some reasons which you people will expect….

1.To improve my testing skills.

2.To improve my writing skills.

3.To document and to dashboard my learning/gatherings in software testing.

Yes my reasons definitely includes the above but not only them, I will drop out one by one as we move on……

When I decided to write blog on software testing(as far as I know). I have spent almost a day to catch my title (something innovative) but ended as a looser (and I hope many of you think that TITLE doesn’t matter, for them its “UNTITLEDTESTER”).

Oh my goodness, It really takes a lot to write a blog and now I feel the stress/fun that all bloggers will go through and here comes another reason -> WANT TO TASTE how it feels to be a blogger.

Yes I know, tasting a thing is quite easy but taking it regularly needs more dedication and hard work so another reason pops out ->Testing my dedication and hard work….

as a tester’s treat take this blog and test it…

I hope you will welcome me at least to know how long I will survive in this BLOG TEST?(same question raised from me when I thought of doing this).

Some expected results(sorry) comments:

a.V don’t want reasons, V want results..(I heard/overheard u).

b.Write something about testing at least in your next blog (hopefully)..

Eagerly waiting for c,d,e....... from you.

Your positive comments will make be fly and your negative comments will remind me to fly with a parachute. Either way I want you to make me fly…….

Lets fly,
Venkat…
All izz well......
U can catch/chat me @ kpvenkatesan84@gmail.com