The Definitive QA Manifesto

Version 2.0 Hurray! for all QAs.

During some of those typical days reading articles and watching videos about philosophy, mostly from the MIGALA’s YouTube channel, which by the way was the biggest inspiration I had to write this humble contribution after having read their manifesto (https://migala.mx/about/), I have had enough inspiration to capture in the following 12 points the path of QA, with a real, unbiased vision about quality, with a satirical tone and with high school level abstraction. At this point I think it is needless to tell you that I am a faithful lover of philosophy, knowledge and universal culture.

Being preventive, please do not take everything so seriously that in the end it was only written for recreational purposes (in the end only I know that I am being serious).

1. About the QA Engineer

What’s the point of being a QA, what’s the point of being a Tester? Waiting 3,800 million years have not been in vain, when entropy, evolution and science were nothing more than instruments for the human being to see himself as imperfect, then some of them decided that they would try to bring the human being closer to perfection through the detection of imperfections… QA was born. (Cheers to Watts Humphrey)

2. About Time

Why lose it seeking to dominate it, it is better to know it and let it be. Einstein taught us that it has geometry, but the altitude and length are indifferent to him, it has no quality, but ironically the QA does have him (less than one ten millionth of 1 percent of it, but something is something, if not let’s ask a Muon). Time becomes the enemy number one of QA when changes are merged, therefore QA begins to test as soon as it joins a team, it tests in each stand-up, in each planning, in each writing of a user story, in each grooming, in each retrospective session, it becomes one with time.

3. About Bugs

Bugs are not your friends or your enemies, but they are not indifferent to you either, they are not the energy that moves you, nor the catalyst that you need, they are simply bugs, that’s it… They have been before you and they will be after you leave, your motivator is to determine them (almost like Schrödinger did with his cat ) before all others, however there is nothing better to help the team to turn them into fixes, into improvements; the QA Engineer masters when instead of reporting bugs it begins to report improvements.

4. About Teamwork

Your work is not worth less, but it is not worth more either, you are not more skilled, you simply have a different ability, your perspective is not unique, it is simply the quality perspective, you have to get off that pedestal, the team does it all, all in the same level. You should never see yourself as the person in charge of quality, that is the first step so that others do not adopt quality; in a perfect world the role of tester would not exist, therefore, your job will be to bring the team closer to perfection. It does not matter that you work within a team with a democratic, social or communist system (understand: waterfall, agile, scrum, etc.), your path will always be illuminated by the ISTQB lamp.

5. About Wisdom

The QA hits the bases directly, the QA doubts everything, questions everything, puts everything under test (Nietzsche likes this), despite this, that does not prevent him from being a flexible person with a wide ear (Nietzsche does’t like this); His contributions and performance place him in a consulting position, stakeholders, technical leaders and team members constantly consult him to obtain a point of view that nurtures and adds value. Despite how ephemeral his stay in the cosmos is, the QA understands, in the same way Lao Tze understands TAO (damn! I’m dying of laughter while writing it!), that his work never ends until he has verified results.

6. About Test Environments

There is no preferred environment, they are all simply environments, it is your professional duty to know all the corners of each one of them; Despite not being part of Greenpeace, QA always contributes enough to keep environments green. The QA environment does not belong to you (unless it was created with your own AWS account), it has not belonged to you and it will never belong to you; the QA understands that it is just one more tool, and like all tools sometimes they break, fall, get up and even share. Every time an environment is born, it is your duty to ensure that it is born healthy (Shift Left… is that you?).

7. About the Documentation

Each decision taken must be reflected in text. If no one has documented it then you will lead by example. The QA understands that the technical documentation and test reports are not priority objects for end users of an application, the QA understands that they only want it to never fail (and be free), therefore the QA will consume most of their vital energy so that this never happens, therefore, the remaining energy must be used to document. QA is not an official technical writer but he should act like one.

8. About Automation

A relentless search for automation does not guarantee quality, much less success, falling into the insane belief that automating is only for the gods makes you a mere mortal, even less, an ape (if not, ask Darwin), you have not yet understood that they are only scripts, however, the one that does not automate, deserves to be called Junior Tester. The language used shouldn’t be a source of pride, but the design patterns… those do belong to the Titans. QA is always aligned to the Seven Testing Principles, hence, he automate early, constantly, document what is automated and what is not, the pesticide paradox is always on his mind, he applies Clean Code Principles and protects his master branch with at least two reviewers.

9. About Success

As long as you have mouth strings, eardrums, pupils and hands to GENERATE VALUE, it is your duty to do so. You are indifferent to fame, recognition and medals, bombastic certifications will not supplant the results. Although it sounds contradictory, the definitive success is not measured with coverage of tests, nor with satisfactory regressions, much less with completed tickets, the definitive success will be measured in satisfied customers, in happy stakeholders, through health checks of your team , with valuable retrospectives, with user engagement, with well-received products in the market, with sales, and with business metrics.

10. About ISTQB

The ISTQB standard could be considered your Bible, but in the end it is only a guide created by imperfect beings, you will use it as a tool, mostly as a flashlight, and even as a compass, but you will modify it if it does not work for you, you will criticize, judge and debate them if you have evidence to do so, you will follow the scientific method in such work. The rules described by the ISTQB do not belong to any institution, much less to the QA, if not they belong to humanity, therefore everyone, yes, everyone, has the right to receive their wisdom (credits to the Dalai Lama).

11. About DevOps

During the search for perfection, at some point in time and space the QA joined forces with Andrew Clay, from him he learned that the maturity model is more than levels, more than indicators, it is more like photons for Edwin Hubble; The role of QA goes beyond the integration of his tests in the CI / CD process, the QA understands his scope and potential, therefore he acts and impacts each stage of the development cycle, since the idea is born in the core of the entrepreneur’s neuron until that moment when dopamine takes control of an end user.

12. About the Will

Just as he started his journey on the quality path of his own free will, QA understands that the first ingredient to achieve Total Quality is WILL; It is the intention, the attitude, taking control of the rudder of behavior, the only engine that leads us to success. The best high-performance teams in the world are made of will, willingness to speak, willingness to listen, willingness to learn, willingness to propose, willingness to accept, willingness to wait, willingness to deploy, willingness to support, willingness to fix, willingness to train, willingness to think outside the box, willingness to grow… and what, from my point of view, is the most important: willingness to solve. The QA in addition to promoting QUALITY is a strong promoter of WILL.

Note: This is not the final version, so if you noticed a typo, or something wrong, feel free to contact me and let me know.