Check out my upcoming Webinar

Gerie Owen to Present Webinar
Webinar: How Did I Miss That Bug? Managing Cognitive Bias in Testing
How many bugs have you — or your teams — missed that were clearly easy to spot?
Testers approach all phases of testing hampered by their own biases in what to look for, how to set up and execute tests, and how best to interpret the results. Understanding how your biases, preconceived notions, and ability to focus your attention are the keys to managing cognitive bias in test design, test execution, and defect detection.
Join the webinar
In this July 11 webinar at 11am PDT, Gerie Owen will give testers and test managers an understanding of how testers’ mindsets and cognitive biases influence their testing. With over 25 years of test-driven development experience to tap into, Gerie will provide tips for managing your biases and focusing your attention in the right places throughout the test process so you won’t miss that obvious bug.
This webinar presentation uses principles from the social sciences — such as Kahneman’s framework for critical thinking and Chabris and Simons’ findings on attention, perception, and memory — and short, enjoyable exercises on preconceived notions. With Gerie’s help, improve your individual and test team results.
What the participants will learn:
Why we aren’t as smart as we think, i.e., how we develop biases and preconceived notions.
How biases and preconceived notions negatively impact our approach to testing throughout the test process.
How to design a test approach to effectively manage the way we think during the test process.
Ways managers can increase their teams’ effectiveness by improving their focus.
Tips for finding the obvious bugs you are missing.
Main Message:
Become a top-performing tester by understanding your biases. With Gerie Owen’s tips, you’ll learn the keys to great test design, test execution, and effective defect detection. Register today!

Understanding How Assistive Technologies Make Products Accessible

 

Hi Testers, welcome to the brave new world of assistive technology.  Assistive technology is a term that refers to all types of technological devices that enhance the quality of life and improve independent function for people living with disabilities.  Assistive technology is available for people with visual, hearing, mobility disabilities as well as cognitive impairments.  Assistive technologies range from low-tech devices that assist with daily living activities such as eating or showering to high-tech readers for the blind and listening devices for the deaf. 

How does this fit into the category of software or device testing?  In many cases, testers are responsible for accessibility testing of new products, including web applications, personal fitness devices, and hardware/software products for finance, transportation, and other areas.  Knowing how the assistive devices work, and understanding how they are tested, is an essential part of understanding the requirements of accessibility.

My friend Max introduced me to his world of assistive technologies when I visited him recently.  He is legally blind and has an impressive array of assistive technologies in home office.  His devices range from lighted magnifying glasses to the Optelec Reader and Zoomtext.  The Optelec reader will not only magnify pages of magazines but also scan and read them aloud.  Zoomtext is a software program that will enlarge, enhance and read aloud everything on a computer screen.  Using Zoomtext, Max is currently writing a book.  

Max is an avid reader and when the Library of Congress digitized books, Max was a beta tester for the various reading devices.  Max uses his phone to dial into the National Federation for the Blind’s Newsline to keep up with current events.  He has access to thousands of newspapers and he can listen to articles of his choice.  I was so impressed with how much these technologies improved Max’s quality of life.

After my assistive technologies demo, as a tester, of course I became interested in how and who would test these devices and software programs.  My initial thoughts centered on accessibility testers who can apply their knowledge of specialized accessibility test techniques that they use to determine levels of usability by people with disabilities.  Accessibility testing is critical for websites and software programs, yet actually testing assistive devices requires something more.  More than any other type of device or software, assistive devices and software must be designed and tested based on the needs of the user.

Since usability testing is so critical for assistive technology, I realized that human experience testing so as applicable here as it is to wearables.  I recently developed a framework for human experience testing that I’ve presented at several testing conferences.  Human experience testing goes beyond usability in scope, depth and approach.  The closer the device becomes to the human, the more important “Human” Testing becomes. 

The Human Experience testing framework uses personas and user value stories to test the interaction between the person and the device.  Personas are detailed descriptions of the archetypical users who represent the needs and motivations of the user group.  They represent the motivations, values, expectations and goals for their interaction with the device.  User Value stories describe the ways in which users interact with the device.  They are based on how the users go about their daily lives.  Since people with disabilities depend on assistive technologies in the daily lives, human experience testing is critical.

The use of personas in assistive technology design is happening today. The Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) is currently working with Jeff Higginbotham, PhD,  professor at the University of Buffalo on promoting persona-based design for assistive technologies and Microsoft is pioneering the concept.  So it follows that testing should involve the human experience.

I believe that testing assistive technology requires not only special test techniques, but also, special testers.   The initial testing of the prototypes and human experience testing can be done by accessibility testers; however, the final user experience testing should be done by those for whom the device is designed; those who will actually use the device in their daily lives.

Testing assistive technology is not only challenging and fascinating, but also, it is rewarding on many levels.  As my friend Max told when he introduced me to his assistive technologies, “Assistive technology makes life a little bit easier.”

To what extent should testers and QA engineers be involved in software design?

Traditionally testers and QA engineers have had minimal involvement with software design.  Design has been the role of the software architect, or team lead, for many years.  Depending on the team, input from testers at this stage of the software development lifecycle isn’t always valued.

But in some circumstances that is changing.  In particular, testers have a real contribution to make when one of the product goals is “design to test”.  Architects who recognize that contributions can come from a variety of sources are soliciting testing feedback when creating an overall design.

And testers have even more design contributions in Agile projects, especially when using Test-Driven Development (TDD).  Testers typically have a more complete picture of user needs, based on their in-depth understand of user stories and interactions with the Product Owner.

Because design is something that grows with the application in Agile, testers can always look at what the developers are doing.  If the team starts letting the design get complex, or difficult to test, it’s time to have a talk with the developers about making the design more straightforward.  It may require a hardening sprint or two, but it will keep the debt down.

For testers, here are some of the things you might consider as you share your expertise with architects and developers.

Do:

• Provide feedback on design for testability. You don’t want to accumulate testing debt.
• Get deeply involved in TDD projects. This is your area of expertise.
• Provide feedback on design decisions during an Agile project.

Don’t:

• Attempt to give advice outside of your area of expertise.
• Reject feedback on your design ideas. Everyone has something to contribute.