Few weeks back, my cousin who is a 'Girl Guide' asked for
some help in her school activities. Being a recipient of '
President's Badge' in Scouting, I helped her prepare for the
Guide trip. I found a lot of similarities between 'Scouting and
Testing'.
As founder of Scouts and Guides movement,
Lord Robert Baden-Powell wanted the scouts and guides to
be independent and to add value to the society. The scouting
movement has slowly spread worldwide and we have scouts and guides
all over the world.
Scouting and Testing have few similarities:
Motto
The motto for Scouts and Guides is 'Be Prepared'.
As testers, we too are expected to /be prepared/. We never know
what application has to be tested, how much time is available for
testing and how many bugs are hiding and what value do the
stakeholders expect from us. A good tester is always prepared to
test any application and to provide his valuable feedback to his
stakeholders.
Team Work and Collaboration
As scouts believe in team work and collaboration to achieve the
mission, testers too are not the only one responsible for the
quality of the product. They too work in teams, interact with other
stakeholders and take up various roles. Team work is very important
in testing as a 'One man' shows might not add the maximum value to
the project.
Self-education and Life-long learning
Scouts continuously practice their skills - camping, hiking,
cooking, fire-fighting, first-aid, languages, teaching and also
learn new skills. As the technology is continuously evolving and
time lines are shrinking day by day, we testers need to educate
ourselves of the different standards, different technology,
different traps. A tester cannot rely on his past achievements; it
is a continuous journey and most of the times - a life long
learning activity.
Serve the Community
Scouts and Guides play a very important part in serving the
community - helping in relief activities, volunteering in community
activities, teaching the underprivileged. When the role of a tester
is magnified, a tester also needs to serve the community. Many a
disasters have occurred due to software bugs and maybe some of them
could have been prevented if testers had convinced the stakeholders
of the importance of fixing the bugs. Every tester would be happy
on seeing a satisfied customer use the software.
Jamborees
Finally, as Scouts and Guides participate in large national or
international events called Jamborees, we testers too attend
national or international conferences. Its every tester's dream to
participate in a conference and learn, interact and network with
others in the community.
I am a Scout and a Tester for life.
If this entire post has to be condensed in one line, it would
be:
Scouting and Testing is a lifelong activity.
I'm participating in VISTACON
2010 and EuroSTAR 2010. See you
there.