Testing like Top Gun
A few years ago I was asked to help a crack remote IT-team from Nagarro (India) to help them with their software testing and quality assurance.
Their assignment then was to create plugins (interfaces) between the client’s marketing Platform (PaaS) and 3rd parties like Microsoft Azure , Google cloud platform and other platforms like Snowflake etc.
There was one catch, little documentation was available and we did not have a dedicated PO (later we got a great one!) and the situation could change by the day.
So, what do you do as a tester then?
Introducing the OODA loop
Well, about 10 years ago a buddy of mine (and great coach) told me about the OODA loop, a decision-model created and used for making decisions quickly.
It was developed by a US Airforce Colonel, John Boyd, for use in air combat where situations change by the second. Remember Top Gun and its great sequel Top Gun: Maverick ?
How I use the OODA loop with software testing
OODA is an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act.
My first step was to oversee the situation (Observe) and filter the things necessary for my tests. These things I had to combine (Orient) and create the best fitted tests for the product and the current situation (Decide)
And then the testing started (Act).
But what if things changed?
Well, that’s why it is called a loop, and you can start again from the beginning at Observe.
All in a fast and agile way.
Doing this we created interfaces in a fast way and we were always aware of the constraints and possible risks. As a team, not a bunch of individuals!
Alas, after a while the management team wanted to align us with the other teams and with the company’s processes.
Which is understandable because the company became more a scale up.
But, what a time.
It shouldn’t be a surprise I use the same OODA loop for my clients at TestingSaaS and ICT Rebels.
Always a maverick at TestingSaaS, always a step further, sometimes in the danger zone, but then the OODA-loop helps.
See you in the air, I mean cyberspace….
