As experts of their domains, it’s easy to see why SMEs are constantly pigeonholed into testing their respective areas of expertise. Consequently, it’s no surprise that they often feel like they’re the only people capable of testing it—something that, with a little bit of documentation, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Photo courtesy of Cognizant Technology Soutions (Creative Commons)
| As the only ones who know what they know and do what they do, many SMEs see formally documenting their test cases as a complete waste of time. But that’s where they’re wrong. That perceived “waste of time” is actually the thing that could liberate them from testing altogether. |
If you’re a subject-matter expert (SME), chances are you’re pretty experienced at software testing. And that’s not to say you had a choice in that, either; you’re just the only person out there who knows that part of your system well enough to comprehensively test it.
It kinda sucks, doesn’t it?
As the only tester in your specific area, you’re responsible for a whole lot of time-consuming, monotonous work every time a new update, patch, or release comes out. It’s a laborious process—one that conspires to keep you from more business-essential activities.
And, since no one else has the requisite experience to test what you do, you probably feel like you’re stuck doing this forever, right? Well, that couldn’t be any further from the truth—provided you’re willing to invest a little bit of your hard-earned time up front, that is.
Test-Case Documentation: An Overlooked Solution?
Since SMEs have to draw so heavily from their own individualized expertise while testing, the vast majority of them don’t utilize any kind of formalized documentation or processes (e.g. test cases). And why would they? As the only ones who know what they know and do what they do, many SMEs see formally documenting their test cases as a complete waste of time.
But that’s where they’re wrong. That perceived “waste of time” is actually the thing that could liberate them from testing altogether.
There’s no way around the fact that documenting test cases is a time-consuming process in and of itself, but the benefits in doing so make it supremely worthwhile. By taking the time to thoroughly document their test cases, SMEs can actually translate their internalized testing process to people who are much less technically versed than they are—in this case a Test Executor, who can perform the same testing for significantly less per hour.
With salary differences between the two positions reaching upwards of $40,000, this move isn’t just a godsend for overworked SMEs; it’s an incredibly cost-effective way to get them to allot more of their time to benefit the business.
Outside of being beneficial to the business, this is also an essential first step towards test automation—which requires rigorous test-case documentation to be used in the creation and recording of automated test scripts. Vendors will typically charge extra for this service, so this should be viewed as a potential value-add when trying to secure time and funding for this kind of project.
It’s a heck of an investment, that’s for sure—but it’s also a worthwhile one. And if you’re sick of eschewing your other responsibilities to run the same time-consuming tests every time a release comes down the pike, it’s high time to talk to your boss about documenting your test cases.
…unless you happen to really like doing it, of course. If that’s the case, wanna work for us?
Cheers,
Mike Hodge
Lighthouse Technologies, Inc
Software Testing | Quality Assurance Consulting | Oracle EBS Consulting
