FW: Thoughts on Working With Developers (long)

[Lynn Perry <CLPerry -at- WALLDATA -dot- COM>]

> Kevin McLauchlan wrote:
<snip>Y'know, as valuable as developers are, I find my single
most precious resource are the testers.  They write their
own test descriptions late in the game, and then work to
those descriptions. Their docs MUST describe the beast
as it actually works, versus how it was supposed to work,
way back when it was being planned and developed...  :-)
</snip>

I wanted to add my agreement to this statement and take it further. I
sometimes find that developers concentrate on specific areas of the document
(lists of conversion rules, data types, etc.) in short, things that are
relatively simple to review and have more or a right/wrong sense about them
rather than the shades-of-gray topics intended as overview/concept
description. Testers, on the other hand, tend to methodically plod through
every section, ensuring more complete coverage. I cannot convey the huge
amount of help testers can be. I make offerings regularly in thanks for my
great test group.

Another point: some developers and testers prefer numerous e-mail-formatted
review events; others prefer to wait for a late-in-project hardcopy.
Providing hardcopy offers me the advantage of writing notes next to specific
sections asking for special review. Sometimes directing the effort with
handwritten notes helps others get started on a task that (left's face it)
is usually painful (for everyone except those of us who love the editing
process -- and we are few (yet mighty)). And with handwritten notes, I
always know whether the question has been answered by checking the
developer/tester comment.

C. Lynn Perry
clperry -at- walldata -dot- com
Wall Data Incorporated / Seattle WA
Some days it doesn't pay to gnaw through the straps

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