“Testers just Validate Acceptance Criteria”

… and seven other things you can say to trigger your testers

This tester is pissed. What did you say to her? — Photo by Julien L on Unsplash

Here are some questions you can ask or phrases you can say to trigger your testers. Some are dismissive of their value, some are ignorant of their challenges, some try to pin blame on them where there is none. I have heard all of them uttered in the halls (or Zoom calls) of software development, to the chagrin of the tester and determent of the speaker.

Read on to understand why these phrases trigger testers.

Note: In this article I use the term “tester” generically to describe all roles that perform testing: QA, QE, SDET, SET, whatever. I usually avoid the term “tester”, because it implies that only testers test, but it’s the most universally understood term.

“Testers just validate acceptance criteria”

I’m sorry, what? You think a tester’s job is to… validate acceptance criteria? The acceptance criteria you have explicitly written out in your story? Those ACs?

What unique skill or deep expertise is required to validate a list of acceptance criteria? I can’t think of any. “Here is what the software should do. Here is the software. Does it do it? Testing: so simple anyone can do it!” That is the diminutive view of…