Discovering your product and finding out what is the actual need that it is trying to solve and who will be the users that will use it is one of the keys to success.

With that being said, take time in discovering your product. Don’t jump over this step just because you think that it will win you more time for testing. Not knowing what your product is about and how will it be used and, most importantly, by whom will always cause you trouble.

Software testing is not about funding all the bugs in your product, software testing is about the important bugs as soon as possible. And in order to do this you have to spend some time first in understanding what exactly is it that you need to test and how.

I’m writing about this idea because I think that this is one of the most common mistakes testers do and because I, as a tester, did a lot in the past (and still doing it from time to time). With my mind set on findings bugs fast I was assaulting the product with the first idea that was popping out in my mind on how to test it. But not to far from where I was starting I was realizing that I am running straight towards a dead end.

When testing without a mission a lot of time is spent in searching and learning new things about different aspects of the product but not so much in finding bugs within the actual product. This isn’t always a bad thing but if your time is limited then spending it all just on learning might not be such a wise thing to do.

Having a goal helps me to canalize all my energy towards reaching it and saves me from spending time searching for information that is not relevant in the context of my goal. A clear mission also gives me a structure on which I can rely and to which I can always come back for validation/verification.

Testing with a mission will also help you in answering questions like: How much of the product did you test? What areas of the product did you covered? How long until you will finish?