If we fix this, what does it enable?

This week I was talking with my team about reporting and making the bugs that we find visible. There was a good point that rather than daily updates it would be better to do it per week or month. Along with that conversation I did some testing on a new feature to help my team members out. I used some AI to generate some test ideas, as I was juggling a number of things and needed a buddy to get my thought process off the ground. I did find myself losing my way a little as there was a lot to consider and looking back at some of my bug reports I was thinking, does anyone really care about this? Yes it is not correct, but really, I’m not sure that it matters a lot. This then reminded me to go speak to a product owner and get their opinion on the matter. That then directed me to what I needed to raise (or not raise).

It made me think more about why I do what I do? I believe things can be better with software. I wrote about this in my previous blog post . I want to create awesome products that are fit for purpose and meet quality standards.

Along with that I want to give information that is useful and helps development courses correct to meet those standards. So when I next raise a bug I’m going to think more on, what does this enable? Does it enable meeting some standards, such as security or accessibility for example?

Then I’m going to showcase what we have enabled, such as better security, meeting accessibility standards, browser/device compatibility, meeting compliance regulations, performant (and less user frustrations), improved charisma (therefore a better product to sell), internationalization (product can be introduced anywhere in the world) and so on.

We need to say goodbye to this outdated reporting of pass/fail rates and number of tests. If you have this type of reporting right now, I urge you to think about, what value is it showcasing?