Tester and the dysfunction of the mind.

There once was this wise man who said the truth so plainly.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you."

To me, it is a story about the hard-coded bug in the human mind. What I find interesting about the two-thousand-year-old wisdom as a software tester is this. That wise man pointed out with plain words to the dysfunction of our mind. We tend to confirm what we already believe or seek.

Search, and you shall find.

Search for assurance that this software works, and you will find more proof. Focus on the failures, and that is what you shall see. Do quality assurance, and the more assured you shall get. Do bug hunting and the more bugs you shall find.

I sometimes coach testers and one of the most significant problems in the process is that they do their work without a clear intent. Without asking the question: What do I want to find today? What is it that I should produce this time? Where will I direct my focus now?

Without intent, every human ends up being fooled by their minds. They drift into reaction instead of creation.

So what could we do about it?

The most exceptional software testing professionals have one quality over the majority of people. They possess and develop the skill to question and challenge the assumptions.

But to do that, the real guru needs something that I like to call awareness. It is a skill that we first need to be able to create intent and to ask the critical questions.

Here is how you can practice.

Stop. Do it now and listen to your inner dialog for one moment. What is the outcome I aim for now?

Stop reacting, start creating.