[LRUG] Looking for recommendations for a tester on a Rails project

[JB Steadman]

Hey Chris -

I've worked on projects with & without dedicated QA and have always been
thankful to have them around. If you put some effort into collaborating
with them, they can be invaluable in finding issues for which developers
have a blind spot.

I'd encourage you to spend time using the app together and talking about
the problems you see, not only when they just get started, but also
occasionally thereafter. It's important to make them feel they have
partners in the process.

Here are some other things I've found helpful for QA

- Actually make QA staff responsible for *quality. *QA can be a very
unrewarding job when it's just about finding bugs or determining whether
the app meets spec. Those are aspects of quality, but they are not the full
picture. Grant them purview to say things like "this flow doesn't really
make sense - I think there's room for improvement". Give them authority to
reject work based on such higher-level problems. You'll get a happier and
more deeply involved partner in quality.

- Involve them at the beginning of the feature development process. Include
them in early planning discussions, even for provisional features that
might never get built. Understanding the history of how a feature came to
exist will contribute to meaningful testing. Additionally, full-cycle
involvement will make QA staff feel like true team participants.

- Throughout the development lifecycle, I and the other engineers on the
project spend dedicated time during the workday using the app. This is time
that we would otherwise spend coding, and it's in addition to the
application usage that occurs naturally as part of building features. About
a half hour per engineer per week can get very good results.

Good luck!

JB





On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 11:13 PM, Chris Adams <chrisdaggimoh at gmail.com>wrote:

>  Hi guys,
>
> We're looking into hiring a tester to work with us in on a project we've
> been building for the last 6 weeks or so,  to help catch bugs and issues
> before they make it to production on a Rails app we're working on at AMEE.
>
> We're working on an app that's fairly well protected by tests, but has a
> few complex ajax interactions that keep catching us off guard as we
> develop, so we're looking for someone who is particularly good at ferreting
> out these kinds of issues.
>
> The app is pretty small, so I assume we'd be looking for someone who might
> be available on a freelance basis.
>
> However, I haven't really worked with dedicated testers before, so this is
> fairly new territory for me - does anyone on list have any recommendations
> of people you've worked with, or any advice on working with testers like
> above?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Adams
> mobile: 07074 368 229
> skype: chris.d.adams
> twitter: mrchrisadams
> web: http://chrisadams.me.uk
>
>
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>
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