Give and Take

If you've been paying close attention up to this point ‚ and you should as an aspiring or working game tester ‚ you would have noticed an apparent contradiction between the testing approach to counteract panic ("don't treat this release like it's the last one"), and the "trust no one" approach of treating each release like it is the last one. A sports analogy might illustrate how these concepts can co-exist.

In baseball, one batter can't step up to the plate with bases empty and put six runs on the board. Instead, batter by batter and inning by inning, the team bats according to the situation, producing the most runs it can. The batters and base runners succeed by being patient, skilled, and committed to their manager's strategy. If every batter tries to hit a home run, the team will strike out a lot and leave the opposing pitcher fresh for the next inning.

At the same time, when each player is at bat or on base, he is aggressively trying to achieve the best possible outcome. He is fully analyzing the type and location of each pitch, executing his swing properly, and running as fast as he can once the ball is hit. He knows that it contributes to the team's comeback and that his one run or RBI could mean the difference between a win and a loss for the team.

So, as a tester, you can do both at once by following this advice:

• Know your role on the team based on the responsibilities assigned to you

• Execute your tasks aggressively and accurately

• Do the most important tests first

• Do the tests most likely to find defects often

• Make emotion-free and objective decisions to the best extent possible

Note ‚  

Chapter 15, "Defect Triggers," describes how testing causes defects to appear so you can cover those possibilities in your testing. These also help you decide which tests will be the most important ones to run and which ones should be run the most often.