What is the core value of testing?

This is a particularly difficult year for many people , epidemic situation 、 layoffs 、 Stock shrinkage 、 Economic downturn … All kinds of negative news came one after another , Many of my friends have also left . Even those who keep it , Also slightly anxious , For fear of being “ Organizational optimization ” 了 . Relative products 、 For development roles , Testers tend to be more worried , I feel that I am not important in the eyes of the boss , It is easy to become the object of priority abolition . This has to mention a problem that often troubles you and me in the testing position ： What is the core value of testing ？ Just use an article today , Let's talk about this topic in depth .

01. The professional significance of testing

The birth of any profession 、 Development 、 decline 、 Extinction , There are inevitable reasons . We need to look at these reasons objectively , And constantly adjust yourself according to the changes of the environment , In order to keep from being eliminated . for example , Watchman in ancient times , For a long time , All play an important role , Later, with the popularization of clock technology , Gradually disappeared in the long river of history . It's not because the watchman didn't work hard enough , But the needs of the times have changed . It is difficult for us to fight against the trend of the times , What we can do more is to try our best to perceive this trend , And follow the trend .

The same is true of software testing , We need to understand the core value of testing , First, understand why there is testing profession . There are many articles about the development history of testing on the Internet , I won't talk about it in detail here , Interested readers can search for , Let me make a summary ：

In the early ： test = Debugging successful

1950s： test = Make sure the software works

1980s： test = Software testing ideas 、 Discipline formation

1990s： Testing tools are developing rapidly

In short , The reason why testing will become an independent profession , Because it has formed a professional discipline , Related theories 、 Tools have evolved to general development （ Of course there will be talented programmers ） It is difficult to give consideration to the development technology at the same time . This seems natural , But in fact , Current domestic employees , The low level of mastery of the basic theory of testing , Far beyond our imagination . The general cognition of testing profession in China is “ Low entry barrier , There is no technical content , Anyone can do it after simple training ”. So a large number of short-term training by specialized agencies 、 Test practitioners who change careers in non relevant positions move to this position , Further aggravating “ The test is just a little bit ” The impression of .

for example ,13 In, the author worked in a well-known Internet enterprise , The boss wants me to do one for two product managers 2 Hours of training , So that they can undertake the testing work in a new business line ;15 When the author managed the test team in another well-known e-commerce enterprise , The boss arranged a customer service to transfer to the test team to support my work .（ The above just emphasizes the differences between positions in different fields , Not for products 、 Customer service is biased ）. It can be seen that even enterprises close to the head , The cognition of testing is the same , Not to mention the more primitive small enterprises in the development stage . A similar example , I believe there are many around you . In quite a few people （ Include testing yourself ） Eyes , Testing is not a technical profession , It's more like a labor-based career .

therefore , I want to emphasize again here ： Testing is a technical specialty , It has its own theory 、 Method 、 Tools 、 system . The value of testing , It is based on the depth of mastery of this discipline . The testing profession has its own professionalism and threshold , Instead of just relying on enthusiasm and experience .

02. Test self orientation

Although the above mentioned tests need to be professional , But if the boss （ Or co-workers ） The idea is “ test = Dot ”, How should we reflect the value of testing ？ We might as well make a transformation of this problem first ： We test the relationship with the development of the company ？ The more directly they are related 、 Closer , That means the more recognized the value of the test .

Frankly speaking , This question is really very difficult , It has also troubled the author for many years , Even in previous positions, I got good performance , But my self feeling didn't answer this question well . Until I joined a big factory later , I met many top experts in the testing field , This question has gradually been answered .

Let's briefly review the previous section , Testing is a discipline separated from development , The essence is development attribute . Similarly, there is operation and maintenance （ Development ）、 Database administrator, etc . These positions are deepened in a specific field , Unique development direction formed . So I think , Testing is essentially , It's just a direction of development , Not different from the development position . Over the years “ Test Development ” The popularity of , It's not a new field opened up by testing , It's a correction for early mistakes . We've been “ Development is constructive thinking , Testing is destructive thinking ” Is misleading （ There is no problem with this sentence itself , There is a deviation between understanding and guidance ） For a long time , So many tests subconsciously think that their work is to submit defects as much as possible 、 Block the release that fails the test （ Bosses don't like to hear these news ）, Ignoring testing can also help products to build forward .

Speaking of this , It is estimated that some readers have felt a little . When the testers stand up to the boss 、 product 、 Development says “ Your needs exist X A flaw , So when it can't be released ”, What is the other party's reaction ？ Fortunately, the test helped them find a problem ？ I still feel that the test is creating obstacles for them ？ unfortunately , Most of the time , The feedback we get is the latter . Bosses have been asking why the products will have defects after testing ; Products have been asking why the test time is so long ; Developers have been complaining about making a fuss about testing . The reason for all this , It's all because the test overestimates itself “ Reverse build ” role , The colleagues who lead to cooperation really feel that we are doing “ The opposite ”.

03. The value of testing

Next , We need to discuss the previous problems carefully ： Test how to help the product to build forward ？ Answer this question , It also finds the relationship between testing and company development , It also proves the value of the test . I will from the following two aspects , To explain my understanding of this problem ： Business level and technical level .

I believe most tests know that the test moves left and right （ This topic is also quite interesting , Then write an article to analyze ）. stay “ Move left ” One of the points often mentioned in is “ Demand analysis ”. Usually , Our understanding of requirements analysis is to help products find the lack of details and logical loopholes in requirements documents （ It's a little “ That smell ” 了 ）, Avoid finding problems at a later stage , Cause the project to be delayed . But is that enough ？ Does not . This is still looking at this matter from an engineering perspective , We're not here “ Optimize the product ”, But in “ Complete the product ”. And what I want to say is , A considerable part of the important content has been ignored by us ： The core value of testing in business , It is to help products accurately define quality .

for example , Hard disk products on the market , Mean time between failures （MTBF）, The reason is that it is the most important embodiment of hard disk quality . If it is used in the military field , There will also be earthquake resistance 、 dustproof 、 waterproof 、 Safety requirements . thus it can be seen , Even the same product , In different scenarios , The definition of quality is also different . Testing should be in the early stages of the project , Accurately identify the quality keys and risks of requirements , And focus on it , For subsequent development 、 test 、 The release phase provides a clear framework and guidance . Not before the final release , And the product 、 Developers are bickering over whether a defect needs to be fixed , And for myself “ Stick to the principle ” Feel honored （ Say it again , The boss doesn't think so ）.

The other one is often in “ Move left ” The point mentioned in is “ Architecture review ”. This is understandable , I believe everyone has no big differences . Testing needs to sit with development , Jointly review the rationality of the technical architecture , And the test role will be more leisurely wrong 、 ...Testability 、 Provide professional advice on quality risk, etc . But for the above reasons , Many test practitioners lack relevant skills , Can not effectively participate in the activities of technical architecture review . Here I repeat it again ： Testing is a direction of development , We should be able to discuss technology with development , And find the technical problems , Instead of just submitting functional defects to them .

for example , The company is planning on 6.18 Conduct a second kill , Sell 10000 items at a 50% discount . Development generally pays more attention to how to support highly concurrent access ？ How to prevent oversold ？ How to prevent malicious requests . Testing generally focuses on whether there are bottlenecks in the current architecture ？ How to simulate high concurrency for testing ？ How to deal with the data generated during the test . Although the two sides are different in the direction of the problem , But it also requires the test to have a considerable understanding of the overall architecture and technical details , And need to maintain close communication with the development .

Go a little deeper , As a test , Do you think you understand products ？ there “ understand ”, It does not mean being familiar with product logic or understanding requirements documents , Instead, understand the industry 、 Learn about competitive products , Understand general technology , And have their own understanding and judgment on the business and technical advantages and disadvantages of products . If our testing can make quality characteristics become a strong competitiveness of products （ For example, our company's hard disk MTBF Exceed competitive products 50%, Or our website can support the highest 50 ten thousand / Second transaction concurrency ）, The value it brings is far more than finding a few lonely defects .

in summary , The testing profession is relatively horizontal due to the nature of work 、 The contact surface is wider , Than simple products 、 The development function should have more advantages （ Although I think they also need to do multi-directional expansion ）. Testing can help build products from the business level , Help develop and build from the technical level , So as to prove their value in many ways , Not just to our lovely products 、 Development colleagues “ Throw trouble ”.

04. Future development of testing

According to the writing of the article “ tricks ”, Finally, it's always necessary to write down your views on the future of testing . But here I think “ Avoid vulgarity ”, Because I think , The best way to deal with the future , Is always concerned about the changes in the environment , Instead of making assumptions . How fast the world is developing , The amount of information , It has made it impossible for us to make an accurate long-term prediction , At most, only in Limited 、 Make some preparations in advance within a relatively recent time frame .

Nowadays, new concepts are being proposed every year ： Virtual reality 、 The currency 、 The universe and so on , Each concept will bring about the vigorous development of related industries and the increasing number of employees ; Corresponding , There are also many occupations that are on the verge of disappearing , For example, elevator operators 、 Bus conductor, etc . The future as 5G、 The Internet of things 、 The development and popularization of artificial intelligence and other technologies , More careers will die out .

As a test , What to do in the current environment ？ About this , I want to quote a sentence I saw before ： This is not a time for anxiety , Just need to pause and rethink .

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