Verifying the Assessment
Assessment 3: Assessing the Competency of Your Testers This practice will enable you to assess your testing competencies against the ten skill
categories in the Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK) for the Certified Software Tester (CSTE) certificate. At the conclusion of the assessment, you will develop a Foot- print Chart that shows your competencies against the skill categories needed to become a CSTE. You can use the results to design a program for improving your per- sonal test competencies.
Figure 1-7 shows a cause-effect diagram indicating the areas of competency assess- ment. In the diagram these are called the drivers that result in becoming a fully com- petent software tester. The drivers are, in fact, the ten CBOK skill categories.
Implementation Procedures
This practice involves performing the following four tasks: 1. Understand the CSTE CBOK.
2. Complete the assessment questionnaires. 3. Build the footprint chart.
4. Assess the results.
Figure 1-7 Test competency cause-effect diagram. Te st C ont ro l an d S ec u rity Exec u
ting The Plan
Te st Ne w Te chn olo gies Managing T est Project Te st P la nn in g Te st O u tso u rcing Acc ept ance T esting An alys is a nd Rep ort ing Bu ild T est Envi ronm ent Te stin g P rin cip les Fully Competent Tester
Understanding the CSTE CBOK
Before you can effectively evaluate your software test competencies, you need to under- stand the 2006 CSTE CBOK. The final version of the 2006 CSTE CBOK is available through the Software Certification Organization. The discussion draft version of the 2006 CSTE CBOK is included in Chapter 5 as a detailed skill-assessment questionnaire. This step requires you to read through the CBOK and to obtain clarifications of the material as necessary. The best source for these clarifications is the CSTE CBOK study guide, which is available from the Quality Assurance Institute (www.QAIworldwide.org).
Completing the Assessment Questionnaires
The assessment questionnaire in Work Paper 1-5 contains ten knowledge categories with 5 items in each category, for a total of 50 items to assess. For each item, a Yes or No response should be made. The meanings of the Yes and No responses are as follows:
■■ A Yes response means all of the following:
■■ You have had formal training, experience, or self-study supporting this skill item.
■■ You have actively used the skill in your personal or work life. ■■ You have accomplished some positive result using this skill item. ■■ A No response means any of the following:
■■ You do not understand the theory and concepts supporting the skill item. ■■ You have never used the skill item in a personal or work situation. ■■ You have used the skill item but you have never achieved any positive
results.
Prior to answering each question, you should think through the meaning of the question. This may require referring back to the CSTE study guide. Using the Yes/No response criteria, you need to come to a consensus on whether a Yes/No response should be indicated for the skill item. The result of your assessment should be recorded on the appropriate questionnaire.
You need to progress sequentially through the self-assessment questionnaires. Note that you may wish to make notes on the questionnaire to clarify your response or to indicate ideas on how you could improve your competency in that skill item.
Building the Footprint Chart
To build the footprint chart, transcribe the results of Work Paper 1-5 onto Work Paper 1-6. To do so, total the number of Yes responses for each of the ten knowledge cate- gories. Then place a dot on Work Paper 1-6 on the lines corresponding to the knowl- edge category. For example, if you have three Yes responses for the Test Planning category, you should place a dot on the Test Planning line at the intersection of the line representing the three Yes responses. After you have placed all ten dots, draw a line to connect them. This line, called a footprint, represents the status of your testing compe- tencies versus those specified in the CSTE CBOK.
Assessing the Results
You should make the following two assessments regarding the footprint you devel- oped on Work Paper 1-6:
1. Compare your results for each knowledge category versus what the knowl- edge category should be as indicated in the CSTE CBOK.Any rating less than five Yes responses indicates a potential area of improvement in that knowledge category. An analysis of the CBOK knowledge categories will be helpful in determining where to focus improvement, as will studying the CSTE guide to identify areas for potential improvement.
2. Compare your testing competencies against your current job responsibilities.
The footprint provides an overview of your current competencies. Using your current job description, develop another footprint, which you believe is needed to achieve your current job responsibilities. Any deficiencies should be your first objective for improvement; your second for improvement would be to achieve the skill competencies needed to become a CSTE.
Verifying the Assessment
A positive response to the following questions indicates that you have correctly per- formed the competency assessment: (Note: Any negative response to the following five questions would reduce the value in using this self-assessment to measure an individ- ual tester’s competency.)
1. Do you have enough knowledge of the CSTE CBOK to understand the assess- ment questions?
2. Do you understand the skills required for each of the 50 assessment items in the questionnaires?
3. Do you understand the Yes and No response criteria, and have you used them in developing the competency assessment?
4. Do you believe the 50 assessment items fairly represent the competencies needed to be fully effective in software testing?
5. Do you believe that the 2006 CSTE CBOK used for this assessment is represen- tative of your personal testing competencies?