12 habits of a Software Tester
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
Human is bundle of habits. What you did yesterday is the habit for tomorrow. When you wake up at 6 am in the morning becomes your habit. If you would eat at 1 pm, you will be hungry next day at the same time. If you smoke, gradually it becomes your habit. There are two kinds of habits ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’. Good habits will lead a better life and bad exactly the opposite of good.
I think Habit is the program of your conscious mind but few things we do it unconsciously. Like I do not blink when I am reading, it’s bad habit of mine which gives pain. This is my bad habit developed unconsciously. Now I am putting efforts to blink throughout a day.
Does athlete has habits? Yes they must have good habits. I think they consciously make efforts to create good habits. E.g. being early, exercise, eating healthy food, reading sport magazine, writing on sport or meeting sport minded people.
I wonder what habits a Tester should have or develop.
Habit can be build by putting conscious efforts. But you should be aware of your own habits.
According to me the Ideal habits of a good software tester are:
- Read – Books, eboks, kindle, magazines, blogs or articles
- Write – Articles, blogs, ebooks, papers, books or programming code
- Listen – Podcast, recorded seminars, conversations, lectures
- Watch – Recorded lectures, seminars, conferences, webinar or practice sessions
- Participate – Seminars, workshops, community, conferences, community groups or competitions
- Solve – puzzles, maths, logic, real time project problems, brain teaser, any challenges, analytical problem or Sudoku
- Learn – Skills, Courses, workshops, discussions, debate or any programming language
- Implement – techniques or any software testing lesson
- Appreciate – Mentor, colleagues, blogger friends, bloggers
- Find- Tools, browser Add on
- Help – Fellow tester, colleague or student
- Practice, practice and practice
I would come up only with 12 habits because most of them I developed consciously. I think these are ‘GOOD’ habits of a tester which will help to become a good tester.
“Thoughts lead to purposes, purposes go forth in action, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.” Tryon Edwards
