A software tester is a person who likes to tinker with anything and everything, figure things out, and leave no unanswered questions behind. What can you expect from a software tester as a partner?
A product owner could mean a customer. This is someone who should have an idea of how something should look and work. A tester can prepare an analysis, evaluate risks, bring validation data and propose solutions.
Not that testers would not be able to make decisions on their own, but they focus on making sure that everything is transparent and "sanctified" by all stakeholders. So be prepared to take responsibility for the decision.
Are you buying a house and choosing among several properties? Forget that the tester will decide based on the view. Rather, expect the tester to prepare a decision table where the view will have a lower priority. On the other hand, the tester will assign a higher priority to "parameters" such as accessibility to public transport, distance from the district town, number of schools in the neighborhood, or opening hours of a convenience store. Feelings aside, the data decide!
A tester is actually a developer, a programmer, an IT guy. You must have heard of them. There are a lot of myths and half-truths about this strange species. It should be stated that some of them are true.
Unlike communication between "normal" people, we IT professionals think partly in source code, machine-like. There is therefore no room for guesses, unspoken presumptions, and double interpretations. Let’s simplify this, be prepared that your partner will sometimes talk like a machine, and will expect the same from you. Keep things short and clear.
The wife sends the programmer shopping. Buy ten rolls and when they have eggs, buy 30. The programmer comes into the store and says: "Do you have eggs?" "Yes, we do," replies the clerk. "30 rolls, please."
It might be useful to learn the basics of programming:
from shop import ShoppingCart, Stock
from food import Roll, Egg
shopping_basket.add_item(Roll, 10)
if Stock.eggs.is_available():
shopping_basket.add_item(Egg, 30)
You don't have to worry about partnering with a tester. We're only human too. Although a little weird.
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