Page - 238 - in The Future of Software Quality Assurance

238 E. van Veenendaal owners), but also to make the right decisions while performing testing activities. Remember, exhaustive testing isn’t possible, and testers are making trade-off decisions all the time, and they’d better be the right ones! What features are most important to test, which configurations occur most often, etc.? Hence for a tester possessingdomainknowledgealongwiththeotherskills isabigplustotheindustry. In the context of being a T-shaped tester, there are also benefits outside of testing. A tester with domain knowledge can probably partly relieve a business analyst, or assist other teammembersbybringingthenecessarydomainperspective. Some examples where a tester will benefit from having domain knowledge are discussednext. UnderstandingRisks andBetterTest Cases Unless you are aware of the domain, you can’t identify and analyse the product risks, and write and execute test cases to effectively simulate the end user. It’s not justaboutusingataparticularactivity, it is requiredthroughoutall testingactivities. UnderstandingImpact When an issue arises, a tester understanding purpose of the functionality of the system will much better be able to analyse the impact of the issue. For example, whenadefect is foundinthepaymentprocessofanonlinepizzaorderapplication,a domain-basedtesterswillhaveaclear ideaabout theprocesssteps impactedneeded for a successful transaction. This will assist the tester in doing better confirmation andregression testingwhen thedefect isfixed. MoreImportantDefects Domain knowledge testers are high in demand due to their ability to understand the application beyond just finding defects, e.g. during exploratory testing. They typicallyfindmore importantdefects. PrioritizeDefects Since the tester understands the domain, the tester will have a clear idea of how to bestprioritize the outstandingset ofdefectfixes. MoreEffectiveReviewing A tester with domain knowledge can be more productive at the start of the project or iteration. Good knowledge of the functional flow of the business processes and businessruleswillhelpbetterunderstandingtherequirementsandasaconsequence beable toperformreviewsmoreeffectively. Being in an IT-dominatedworld, the value of a tester with domainknowledge is incredibleas it isundoubtedlyacritical success factor for testers.While testingany application, it is important to be able to think from an end user’s perspective since they are the ones who are going to use the product. Domain knowledge usually must be learned from end users (as domain specialists/experts) and may, amongst others, include user profiles, workflows, business processes, business policies and configurations. Without going into detail on how to acquire business and domain knowledge,thereisofcoursemuchmorethanjustattendingatraining,alsoconsider