What would your Motivational Poster say?

Motivational Posters for Testers

What do you think of the motivational posters that you come across from time to time, do you love them, or hate them? You know the kind of thing, it has a pretty picture with a caption underneath like;

‘ TEAMWORK, When the best and the brightest come together, the possibilities are endless.

Whatever your view, I am sure you will agree that most do not truly work for Testers.
You see, as testers we always see the downside, we always look for the exception, we never expect the best. It’s our job to find fault and expect the worse and boy do we take it to extremes!

We all need to be encouraged and motivated, but testers don’t want any platitudes, they won’t believe them. So with that thought in mind I decided to create a selection of ‘Motivational Posters For Testers.’

It is a basic premise of mine that, if we are not finding faults, then the problem must be with our testing and we need to work harder to find them. In fact one of my favourite all times quotes was from a supplier who moaned, “You are only finding so many bugs because you are doing much more testing.” Doh! Yes! That’s the point, hit it harder and you will find more bugs.

Oh yes, if we had our way, software would never be released, we would keep sending it back till eventually they got it right, and then we would send it back again, just to make sure. The truth is that we have to accept that at some point, the software has to released. Our job is to ensure all code is tested according to plan and that those making the decision to release have all the relevant information.

Some times testers can feel a little inferior to developers, they don’t get the recognition that developers get, they haven’t the technical knowledge the developers have and they always seem to get the but end of the deal. At times like that, its worth remembering that developers are really just playing in the sand pit, and if they were as smart as they think they are we would be out of a job.

Guys, how often have your reported a load of bugs, just to be moaned at as if it’s your fault they are there? We have to remind project managers that it was broke when we got it, all we have done is point out where!

We are integral to the success of the project, we are the last line of defence against letting unacceptable software going public. This is what we do, and because of us, companies all round the globe have been spared costly and embarrassing mistakes.

Sometimes we are treated as if we are the problem, when in fact all we are doing in pointing out the system’s faults. It would be like blaming the doctor for causing cancer, when all he has done is diagnose the illness following a number of tests.

Every development team has one, a developer who feels that his code is so good it doesn’t need testing, or the on that thinks that every bug you find is a personal attack on them and their ability. The truth is to err is human, and given that fact it makes sense that all code is tested.

Of course, the thing that a lot of people don’t understand is that we really do care, we take responsibility for the quality and suitability of our companies code. For us, the bug stops here!


This may look like it’s just a bit of fun (and of course it is) but there is a serious underlying question it might be worth asking yourself, “What would your poster say to give your test team a motivational boost?”




Tony Simms is the Principal Consultant at Roque Consulting ( www.roque.co.uk) and can be contacted via email, tonys@roque.co.uk

(The immages in this post are availabe as a free screen saver, the file is attached.)