Tester Developer Relations A Baseball Analogy

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Tester \ Developer RelationsA Baseball Analogy

• Steven Schofield
• August 21, 2007

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History

• Articles on Sticky Mind
• Everything I Learned about Testing I Learned in
  Kindergarten
• Bumper Stickers for Testers
• http//www.geocities.com/harry_robinson_testing/Bu
  mperStickers.htm
• Why not combine my two interests?

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Why have good relations?

• Every Tester has the heart of a developer.

On their desk in a jar.
Software Testing is a second-childhood
You broke it, and Im telling.
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ReallyWhy?

• Better Communication
• Faster Debug/Triage
• Trust

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How Developers View Testers

• Sooner or later, the helpless and pathetic
  programmer must hand over code that he thinks is
  fully tested, to the satanically twisted souls in
  Quality (Control).
• These demented denizens of denigration work late
  into the night in their dark and foreboding
  bastions of torture, where they apply a variety
  of sadistic techniques to torment our helpless
  code.
• They toil relentlessly, lightning flashing
  outside their window, never resting until they
  can prove that every last lurking bug, aphid,
  insect, or arachnid of computer ineptitude has
  been found, and its life squished out between
  their virtual tweezers.
• Jesse Liberty, The Complete Idiots Guide to A
  Career in Computer Programming

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Where is the Analogy?

• Casey at Bat
• Pitchers perspective?
• http//www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_case.sh
  tml
• Lets review some baseball.
• Baseball is the only major sport where the
  defense has the ball

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(No Transcript)
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Defensive Purpose

• The point of the defensive side of baseball is to
  prevent the other team from scoring
• Keep as many runners off of base as possible
• Understand the hitters and understand the way
  they work

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Perfect games

• A game in which the opposing team does not have a
  runner reach base
• 17 in ML history
• Very Good Team Communication

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Battery

• Pitcher and Catcher
• Must communicate in order to make sure they are
  on the same page
• Miscommunication can be costly the catcher may
  be unable to catch the pitch

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Base Threats

• A Runner gets on base the team has a couple of
  options
• Pitch out throwing the ball away from the
  batter allowing the catcher to be in a throwing
  position. Better chance of getting a base
  stealer out
• Pick off the pitcher throws to the base where
  the base stealer is. May be able to get the
  runner out with the help of other team mates.
• Ignore the runner
• Types of Runners
• Speedsters
• Students
• Clog

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Catcher Roles

• Catcher's Interference
• The call when a catcher oversteps his bounds and
  gets in the way of the batter

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Catcher Roles

• Play at the plate
• When a throw is coming from a fielder to the
  catcher and the catcher tries to block the plate
•  
• --Shlomit Levy/Los Angeles Times

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Catcher Skills

• 1. Ability to give the pitcher confidence to
  throw his pitches
• 2. An understanding of the game
• 3. Leadership and confidence
• 4. The ability to throw out base stealers
  http//www.baseballfactory.com/downloads/news/10-
  15/101502-3.html

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Catcher Roles

• The catcher's role becomes more crucial depending
  on how the game is going, and how the pitcher
  responds to a given situation.
• The catcher's main role is to receive the pitch
  if the batter does not hit it. Together with the
  pitcher and coaches, the catcher plots game
  strategy by suggesting different pitches and by
  shifting the starting positions of the other
  fielders. Catchers are also responsible for
  defense in the area near home plate.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball

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Great Pitchers

• Cy Young
• Sandy Kofax
• Roger Clemens
• Nolan Ryan
• Pedro Martinez
• List goes on and on
• Yearly awards for best pitchers

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Great Catchers?

• Johnny Bench
• Ivan Rodriguez
• Harder to come up with
• Any famous award for best Catcher?

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Baseball Lesson

• Thanks for the lesson, what about the analogy?

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Team Sport

• Baseball and Development
• Brunt of Work
• Pitchers and Catchers
• Developers and Testers
• Good Managers
• Must enable team to win
• Put people in the correct positions

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Before the Game

• Pitchers and Catchers study opposing team to
  enable team to win
• QA sets up processes to enable quality in the
  product before developing starts

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During the Game

• Main point is to keep runners from scoring.
• QC activities try to find the bugs in the system
  to prevent them from making it into the
  customers home
• As testers better understand bugs, they will know
  where to look to get them out.

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Perfect games

• Baseball only has 27 outs in a game
• How many chances in a software project are there
  for defects to be introduced?

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Battery

• Pitchers are like developers
• Catchers are like testers
• Opposing team is like the potential defects

• Who gets banged up day in and day out, yet still
  has to come in to work?

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Battery

• Good Communication needed
• Must work together in order for the good of the
  system.
• Miscommunication can lead to more defects
• Pitcher in trouble if too concerned with runner
  on base same with developers

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Base Threats

• Pitch Out
• The developer may give some special code to the
  tester in order to isolate the bug and take care
  of it
• Pick Off
• The developer may give the task for fix a bug to
  another developer. This is usually signaled from
  the manager.
• Ignore the Runner
• The bug may not seem to be a big enough threat so
  it is left alone.
• As the bug progresses through the system, the
  tester may be able to isolate with good triage in
  order to get the defect out of the system

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Types of Runners

• Speedsters
• These are defects that race through the system.
• You need to find these early in the development,
  or you life is a lot more difficult
• Students
• These are ones that dont show up early.
• This is more the white space that we miss in
  testing.
• Clog
• These are the ones that tend to mask other
  defects.
• Sometimes it is good to leave these in the system
  because of the turmoil that may result in having
  to get these out.

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Catcher Skills
Tester Skills
1. Ability to give the developer confidence to
throw his code over to the tester

• 1. Ability to give the pitcher confidence to
  throw his pitches

2. An understanding of the product
2. An understanding of the game
3. Leadership and confidence
3. Leadership and confidence
4. The ability to throw out base stealers
4. The ability to find and triage defects
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Catcher Roles
Tester Roles
The tester's role becomes more crucial depending
on how the development is going, and how the
developer responds to a given situation.
The catcher's role becomes more crucial depending
on how the game is going, and how the pitcher
responds to a given situation.
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Catcher Roles
Tester Roles
The catcher's main role is to receive the pitch
if the batter does not hit it. Together with the
pitcher and coaches, the catcher plots game
strategy by suggesting different pitches and by
shifting the starting positions of the other
fielders. Catchers are also responsible for
defense in the area near home plate.
The tester's main role is to receive the
code\deliverable. Together with the developer and
team, the tester plots test strategy by trying
different ways and by helping other team members
know their role. Tester are also responsible for
regression testing.
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Catcher Roles

• Catcher's Interference
• Be sure you understand your boundaries
• Dont interfere when it isnt your job to

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Catcher Roles

• Play at the plate
• The tester is the last line of defense until the
  product reaches the customer.
•  
• --Shlomit Levy/Los Angeles Times

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Credit

• Who gets the most of the credit when a product is
  delivered with few defects?
• It is rarely the catchers.

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Back to Casey at the Bat
mighty Casey has struck out.