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How Do You Practice Software Testing?

Aug 12, 2005

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Develop Your Cognition Skills

Whenever I get the chance, I try to work on my cognitive abilities. Cognitive abilities allow us to process the sensory information we collect, giving us the ability to analyze, evaluate, retain information, recall experiences, make comparisons, and determine action. By practicing to increase your cognitive ability, you'll be better prepared for all the other tasks you perform as a tester.

In his article "Inside the Mind of an Exploratory Tester," James Bach provides a great example of a practice exercise to increase rapid cognition skills. Go to a bookstore, pick a computer book at random, flip through it in five minutes or less, close the book, and ask yourself the following questions:

What does this technology do?
Why would anyone care?
How does it work?
What's an example of it in action?

Repeat the process until you can answer the questions.

Exercises like this are excellent for increasing your ability to find and learn the information you need when faced with new problems.

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