The Blackhole Theory of Testing

When one gets a birth as a QA, by choice or by chance, he/she is instructed the art of testing in various forms. I have coined my own theory for it, named as “The Black Hole Theory of Testing”.

There is a developer who builds a black box dispenser, which is claimed to dispense different gem stones (mind you, they could just be worthless crap stones), and there is a customer who is enthusiastic about buying it.

The job of a tester is, to dispense and test gems by using different logical combinations of input, and also by identifying and seeing through any holes in the box. The goal is not to dispense every gem or find every hole (Nothing is perfect in our universe, including the universe, as people say that it is formed as a result of defects in manufacturing and has lot of holes in it too.), but the goal is to dispense as many different gems as time permits, and identify holes, till no other person in your vicinity can find more. In a nutshell, focus on the box to improve quality, and as a result, you can see the face of a happy customer.

While doing this as part of their job and a matter of survival, and trying to find defects by breaking the product (so much of skepticism), many testers that I know, develop cynical attitude over a period of time. So when they find a defect, more often than not, a sly smile originates on their face, and feel very happy looking at the sad faces of developers. Since most of the times, customers are unknown, and they can’t see them directly, their focus is sidelined to developers.

So, in my opinion, a tester can contribute more in terms of quality, if he/she works in tandem with developers, by feeling their pains, rather than finding happiness in it.

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