CAST 2016

Life as an embedded tester is awesome.
It’s the perfect position for a tester to influence the way software is produced instead of just waiting
for whatever the great development machine pumps out at the end of each cycle.
It’s also challenging, frustrating and sometimes confusing, but if you do it right; it will kick you out of
your comfort zone and make you question everything you learned so far about making better
software.
Last year I was the first embedded tester at a company, surrounded by people who knew nothing
about what I do as a tester, but as the team grew, so did the acceptance of our role.
Developers, product owners and architects started to value and rely on the work we do and our
input was incorporated into the software delivery process.
Deciding how we wanted to do our jobs and standing by our decision opened the door for us to
become valuable players in the development game and established a context in which testers
stepped out of the scenery and into the story.
Thinking back on my previous roles – both as an embedded and an independent tester – I realized
that the principles are the same:
• Own the product. We have the same goal, so each of us has to take responsibility.
• Don’t believe the hype. Agile or not; the solution that suits the project best is the one to go with,
regardless of the latest trends.
• Watch the methods. Both in development and testing. No point criticizing the outcome of a
process we know isn’t right for the project.
• Roll with the punches. A project in a transitional phase cannot afford to get stuck with processes
that don’t work.
Much of what I’m going to talk about can be especially useful for testers working in independent
teams. Simply realizing that you’re not the only one concerned with quality can change your attitude
and that change can catch on quicker than you think.