Testers are asked that they have testing expertise, product knowledge and social skills. This allows testers to be perhaps the most versatile members in a project. Developers often do not have social skills and project managers have no product knowledge. But testers need this. I assume that all professional testers have testing knowledge! Why else did you become a tester?

Tip: If you have any knowledge as tester two things you can do. Find a course or workshop so you can be trained in testing. Or choose another profession!

A tester is the spider in the web between the client (business) and the supplier or project manager and because of this most testers have (good) social skills. I have not found another project group that is both good with users, designers as developers and can discuss both the content and use of an application. The only think we testers still sometimes miss; is the product knowledge.

This product knowledge we must learn every time we do a new assignment; for each customer again. But it is usually expected that we can fit into a project in no time at all. It still happens a lot that too often testing is (too) late involved in a project. And, as a result, testing needs to be done fast. Now, how can we be as successful in testing as possible without having sufficient product knowledge?

The Top 25 of the largest software failures is a list with the most common mistakes developers make. One problem we now face is that the average developer always makes the same mistakes. So most developers make the same mistakes, in any application and in any environment! As a tester you can use this information. Likely defects can be found in the parts that join the Top 25. Testers can thus prepare test cases for those parts where the risk is greater to go wrong.

Link: http://cwe.mitre.org/top25/

Test managers also can use this information in preparing the test strategy. The list can be used as input for the (product) risk analysis; the risks can be determined on that subjects that were appointed by the Top 25. Likely that these subjects contain an increased risk for failure.

Also users or in a negative way crackers, know about this list. So herein lays a security risk. Thus, links this with the OWASP Top 10 in regard to security risks.

Of course all this is not panacea, but a way for testers it’s a simple way to show their added value for an organisation. And so again stress the importance of testing is and what it can avoid.

Tip: Use the Top 25 of software failures as input for the product risk analysis and in the preparation of test cases. The list can also be used to indicate what testing can avoid.