1. QA – WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO BE?
George Gajnak

2. PHILOSOPHY
 QA people must be
 Able to feign ignorance
 Observant
 Detail Oriented
 Inquisitive
 Conscientious
 Skeptical
 Methodical
 A Communicator
 The Four Horsemen
 Relationship with development

3. “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
 Not dependent on implementation knowledge
 Concern only with behavior at interface
 USD (Unit Standard Dummy) – a user who interacts
with the system in unanticipated ways
1. George Orwell - 1984
1.
Scene from the film “1984”. Big Brother is on the monitors.

4. OBSERVANT, DETAIL-ORIENTED & INQUISITIVE
 Ignorance is not stupidity!
 Sherlock Holmes knew nothing
about a case before a client
came in, but:
 He would observe details
 He would make initial
conclusions based on
observations
 He would ask probing questions
Fictional character by Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle. The first truly scientific detective.
Statue of Sherlock Holmes in England.

5. CONSCIENTIOUS AND SKEPTICAL
 “The buck stops here!”
 Harry Truman
 From Missouri, the “show
me” state:
 Believe nothing
 Verify Everything
Most famous son of Missouri: President Harry Truman.
Also known for the sign on his desk that “The Buck
Stops Here.”

6. METHODICAL
 Leaves nothing to chance
 Consistently uses tools and
procedures!
Robby the Robot from the ‘50’s science fiction classic “Forbidden Planet”. Unlike
other robots in Sci-Fi, he never went beyond his programming, which included a
sarcastic sense of humor.

7. A COMMUNICATOR
 Thorough documentation
 Clear. Precise.
 Economical.
 Visual
 Annotated screen shots
 Movie files
 Keeps others informed at all times
 Across large distances
 Keep audiences in mind
 Development
 Product Management
 Technical Documentation
 Other QA people
ET from Steven Spielberg’s movie of the same name. ET built a
communication device to “phone home”, which was a very long distance
away!

8. THE “FOUR HORSEMEN”
 Incompleteness
 Ambiguity
 Unstated
Assumptions
 False Positives
The “four horsemen” are from the Apocalypse in the Bible. They are War, Pestilence, Famine
and Death. They are unleashed upon the world before the final battle between good and evil. A
line of football players at Notre Dame University also were called the ‘four horsemen.”

9. RELATING TO DEVELOPMENT
 Good Cop
 Lets development know
in advance what
“passing” is
 Learns from peers
 Bad Cop
 No favors
 Objective
 Merciless
Andy Griffith in 1960’s sit-com Mayberry RFD. He played a
genial sheriff is a small town in the US South.
Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, a cop who would just as soon shoot you as arrest you. “OK, make my day”