What do testers actually do? - Part 1, the role of testers

Have you ever heard comments like "This is not relevant for testers." or "You are the guy for quality." in your work place? During my Rapid Software Testing Applied training with James Bach, we have talked about this and it inspired me to blog about these ideas, In this article, I will be talking about the role of testers in agile development.

Different people has different option about what testers actually do. This often varies quite a lot depending on their roles and experience. You often find yourself surrounded by colleagues who think they know it. The truth is sometimes I, who have worked as a tester for many years, have the doubt about what a tester should actually do.  

Which role do testers play? In the good old days, there are test managers and test analysts. They do different things. Test managers make test plan, track the status of projects, schedule the testing resources and improve test process. They are often report to higher management and are involved in decision making process like Go/NoGo meetings. Test analysts on the other hand, focus on test design, test execution and report their results to their test manager. They often don't need to communicate and explain their work outside of test department.   

When Agile gets more and more popular, many organizations jump on board and embed test analysts into development and delivery team. They also get rid of the test manager role. This however, means that testers play both roles as test manager and test analyst in a team setting. With the rise of test automation, a tester is often asked to have technical skills as well. The fact that there is no proper education for testers like the one for developers or managers makes the situation more complicated. Testers not only have to learn their craft through their work, he or she must be able to play in both roles to be effective. These competences and skill requirements are likely difficult to be met. I believe the impact is starting to show in the recruiting market. At least in the area I am working, finding an experienced and competent tester becomes harder than before.  

Many companies these days group testers into junior, senior and lead levels (or similar roles), especially in a large project. While all testers play the role of test analyst, test lead and sometimes senior testers play part of the test manager role. However, without authority to make a decision and connection with management group as the test manger, they often rely on their influence and network to function. This makes the role challenging. That being said, it is not rare to see a test lead being promoted to a manager role if they can manage to take this challenge and succeed.  

In the next part I will talk about the responsibility of testers and my idea about what is quality.