Hi. I got a task from my PM to test our application and I am kind of very new to it. So I am trying to figure out how I can simplify my testing. Maybe I can find some extra tools for this purpose. But what features can really help me to test our app (desktop and mobile versions)? What should I look up into these tools?
Hi Sam, what is your context, what actual problem are you trying to solve?
In a prior job I used to struggle a lot with choosing tools, mainly because of some bad tool experiences. I have even used codeless automation tools, and found that at scale they also struggle if you are inexperienced at using them. I feel the pain of people who hunt for tools to help them test “better”. We see a lot of tool abuse as testers, tools deployed in ways they never should be. All because we are not focused on the right goal quite often. So… I’d like instead to share a story. My grandfather was a carpenter, he built his own house actually. I was also interested in making things as a kid, but by then he had given it all up and gotten into dog training, so he never taught me much carpentry. Once he showed me the computer program he helped design to design roof trusses and how load bearing calculations worked on a commodore 64. He did however teach me a lot about life in the little bit of carpentry he did teach me. He taught me how to hold a hammer.
That’s it, he taught me how to hold a hammer, you will be surprised how many people you can give a hammer to and they have no clue. Here is the secret. Hammer in a whole bag of nails into a plank, as you get tired, shift your grip around until you are able to get a nail in without hand ache. You are probably getting tired, but work past it, the good work person with the right tool can carry on working even when they are half asleep. Perhaps not safely, but when you are doing a job correctly, with the right technique, it’s very low effort. Keep going, now work on arm action, next work on where you head and eyes are so you can see what you are doing. It’s all about positioning. I’ll never be near as good as he was, but he could home and level a 8 inch nail in just 2 blows. I can do it with a 6-inch in 4 blows now, most people take twice as long as I do. He also showed me how to smooth up the hammer head before you start, the hammer head must not be pitted, and must be perfectly flat. I think today we have a name for these people we call them the X10 workers. They know how to prepare for a job and how to execute it quickly using a tool they are familiar with. It might not be the fanciest most expensive tool, but the tool you are familiar with will always see more efficient use until it is time to scale up to the next tool. Woodworkers often have about 8 or 10 chisels you may say, yes, but they only use 2 of those 90% of the time. First, know what your tools are intended to be used for, use it up to it’s very limit before going out and buying a new tool.