Time to Update the 101s for Test Engineers

 

The thought I'm sharing in this post is growing stronger in me, in recent years. I shared it as points with the community in the #21Days21Tips initiative from The Test Chat.  I post it on my blog as well so that it will be a reminder to me when I scroll through my posts.

The 101s for Test Engineers

Today, the first few stepping lessons of Testing and Automation to be on -- "How to Overcome the Fear of Failure".  If this is not available in the team and organization, it is time to start and build it.  The present and future Test Engineers need it.

The starting lessons or 101 of the Testing and Automation need not necessarily be:

• What are Testing and Automation?
• Test Design and Techniques
• Programming Language
• Tech Stack, Full Stack
• Clean Code
• Design Patterns
• Tools
• What should I pick; how & where to start here?

All these will connect and align when one can handle self-doubts and fear of failure.

Approach Goals and Avoidance Goals

As a team, organization and mentor, help your Test Engineers to have "Approach Goals" than letting them build "Avoidance Goals" out of fear.  I see practicing the Approach Goals is a life skill, today.

I take the below lines from this post:

Approach Goals are those with positive outcomes that we work towards.  Positive can mean different things in different contexts, such as liked, desirable, pleasurable, or beneficial.

Avoidance Goals are those with negative outcomes that we work to avoid. Negative can mean different things, including disliked, undesirable, painful, or harmful.

Examples:

• Approach Goals
• Know why I have those fears when I think of automation?
• I need to be skilled in automation. How can I manage my fears and proceed with practicing automation?
• I need to do better testing with help of automation. What I should practice for doing this? What help I will need?

• Avoidance Goals
• I will start practicing automation next month
• I will start automation once I understand and write good code
• I will start automation once I understand Design Patterns and Clean Code
• I will start automation once I learn how to write a framework
• I need to do it well; let me learn the basics very well first and then let me do automation
• I will check for workshops and people who can help me to do automation

Approach Goal: I will start it! No matter how small it is, I will start. I will keep updating as I learn. I start it from here -- Automate a browser to launch and open a new tab.

Frame the Approach Goal that helps to take one ahead by dealing with the fear.  The goal needs to make sure the milestones of learning are highlighted to one.  That way, one feels confident and has clarity along with skills of learning better be it what is new or what one is aware of.

Note: If the question is why I talk of automation in the examples of Approach Goals and Avoidance Goals, this is what we hear from the majority of Test Engineers today.

My Experience

When the Test Engineers know to build and use the Approach Goals, they will align and practice better on subjects:

• With which Test Engineers are unfamiliar
• With which Test Engineers are uncomfortable

Also, help the Test Engineers to build skills to spot Avoidance Goals.  So that, they are aware of the Avoidance Goals they tend to have and construct positive Approach Goals to learn new skills and solve the problems.