大话测试数据（二）：概念测试数据的获取

在大话测试数据（一）文章中，我提到，获取数据的第一步是获取概念上数据。这一步看起来简单，其实不是那么容易。获取概念数据和获取需求的过程是交织在一起的，事实上，它们其实是一个事儿，因为数据是需求中最重要的组成部分。
需求工程是个大话题，目前有很多种流派和实践方式来来搞定需求，但它们的思想都比较一致，那就是：不断的由粗到精的迭代（如下图）。关于需求这里不再展开，如果大家有兴趣的话，推荐两本我觉得还不错的书：德国人写的《需求工程，基础原理和技术》和国人写的《软件需求最佳实践》，大家读后结合工作实践会很有收获。

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由上述文字可知，（测试）数据获取也是一个迭代的过程。实际上在项目早期，我们就能获得概念数据。概念数据是什么呢？用大白话说就是：这种数据叫什么，大体啥样子，是干嘛用的。举个例子：
如果你的项目是一个信用卡项目，项目有一个功能就是，每月给用户发送“电子对账单”。对于80后，甚至90后的你，一秒钟你就知道这个“电子对账单”大概将会是个什么东西了。“不就是一封电子邮件里放一个网页，里边告诉用户：尊敬的某某先生/小姐！您本月消费了几笔，每笔多少钱，都是哪一天花的。最重要的是，您在本月X日前必须把钱还了。“这样你就建立了对“电子对账单”这种测试数据的概念，也就是说得到了“电子对账单”这种概念的测试数据。
Pretty easy？事实没有那么简单的。事情的本质是：你有一个超级聪明的大脑，能瞬间把你的经验综合起来对需要识别的东西作一判断，并给出一个大致的评估。但如果你大脑没有相关的知识，你就没有那么幸运了。不信，请读一下下图中的文字：

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脂多糖是神马？膜蛋白复合体是神马？神马是beta链？桶壁是神马？？？？这特么的都是神马？如果你没有一些生物学知识、高中生物又不幸光睡觉了的话，这段选自《环球科学》的文字不会让你觉得比读日文简单。
因此识别概念上的测试数据，你脑子里还得有点儿货才行，这些货是：“技术层面的知识”，“业务层面的知识（领域知识）”，“对于产品本身的认识”，还有“你的常识”。这四点的总结是从测试大师 James Bach 的课程中获取的，你可以尝试获取他关于快速软件测试的 PDF 文件。
你说了，没有这些知识怎么办？答案特别简单，“学啊”！。勤学勤问勤练勤观察，入行几年后，如果不是特别懒惰，前三项都会提高到一个不错的高度。这些都变成了你的价值。经过一段时间爬坡，你就可以很快的获取概念测试数据了。
你说了，废话，我也知道要学，但有没有更具体点儿的？干货，有么？要能咯掉牙的！
好吧，可以参考下面的干货资料（英文版，也正好练习下英文），你就当它是个 checklist，按图索骥吧：关于测试数据的获取（不仅仅是概念测试数据的获取），测试思路的获取，甚至是需求的获取，你一定会有收获。
We recommend collecting test ideas continuously from a variety of information sources.
Consider the following, and think about values, risks, opportunities; find shortcuts to cover what is important.
1.Capabilities.
The first and obvious test ideas deal with what the product is supposed to do. A good start is requirements, examples and other specifications, or a function list created from actual software. But also try to identify implicit requirements, things users expect that haven’t been documented. Be alert to unwanted capabilities.
2.Failure Modes.
Software can fail in many ways, so ask “what if” questions to formulate test ideas that expose the handling of internal/external, anticipated/unexpected, (un)intentional, realistic/provoked failures. Challenge the fault tolerance of the system; any object or component can break.
3.Quality Characteristics.
Quality characteristics are always important for the project to be successful, although the OK zone can be easy to reach, or difficult and critical. Our definition includes capability, reliability, usability, charisma, security, performance, IT-bility, compatibility, supportability, testability, maintainability, portability, and a plethora of sub-categories.
Many of these can be used as ongoing test ideas in the back of your head, executed for free, but ready to identify violations.
4.Usage Scenarios.
Users want to accomplish or experience something with software, so create tests that in a variety of ways simulate sequences of product behavior, rather than features in isolation.
The more credible usage patterns you know of, the more realistic tests you can perform. Eccentric soap opera tests broaden coverage.
5.Creative Ideas.
All products are unique, and require some test ideas not seen before. Try lateral thinking techniques (e.g. Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, provocative operators, the opposite, random stimulation, Google Goggles) to come up with creative test ideas.
Metaphors and analogies is a good way to get you started in new directions.
6.Models.
A state model helps identify test ideas around states, transitions and paths. A system anatomy map shows what can be tested, and can highlight interactions. Create a custom model using structures like SFDPOT from Heuristic Test Strategy Model.
A visual model is easier to communicate, and the modeling activity usually brings understanding and new ideas.
7.Data.
By identifying intentional and unintentional data (there is always noise), you have a good start for a bunch of test ideas. Follow easy and tricky data through the application, be inside and outside boundaries, use CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete), exploit dependencies, and look at the data in many places.
8.Surroundings.
Environment compatibility (hardware, OS, applications, configurations, languages) is an important testing problem, but also investigate nearby activities to your product. By understanding the big system you can get credible test ideas that are far-fetched when looking at functionality in isolation.
9.White Box.
By putting a tester’s destructive mindset on developers’ perspective of architecture, design and code, you can challenge assumptions, and also find mistakes. Pay special attention to decisions and paths you might not understand from a black-box perspective. Code coverage is not worthless, it can be used to find things not yet tested.
10.Public collections.
Take advantage of generic or specific lists of bugs, coding errors, or testing ideas. As you are building your own checklist suitable for your situation, try these:
• Appendix A of Testing Computer Software (Kaner, Falk, and Nguyen)
• Boris Beizer Taxonomy (Otto Vinter)
• Shopping Cart Taxonomy (Giri Vijayaraghavan)
• Testing Heuristics Cheat Sheet (Elisabeth Hendrickson)
• You Are Not Done Yet (Michael Hunter)
Learn some testing tricks or techniques from books, blogs, conferences; search for test design heuristics, or invent the best ones for you.
11.Internal Collections.
Use or create lists of things that often are important in your context, some call these quality/test patterns.
12.Business Objectives.
What are the top objectives for the company (and department break-downs) ? Are there any requirements that contradict those objectives? Do you know the big picture, the product vision and value drivers?
13.Information Objectives.
Explicit and implicit purposes of the testing are important guides to your effort. If you don’t have them, you can create quality objectives that steer test ideas for any feature.
14.Product Image.
The behavior and characteristics the product is intended to display might be explicit or implicit, inside the walls and minds of the people producing or consuming the software.
You will be able to write compelling problem reports if you know and can show threats to the product’s image, e.g. by pointing to a violation of marketing material.
15.Product Fears.
Things that stakeholders are really worried about are much stronger than risks, they don’t need prioritization, they need testing. Typical hard-to-verify, but useful-for-testing fears are: loss of image, wrong decisions, damage, people won’t like the software. Different people have different fears; find out which matters most.
16.Project Risks.
Some of the difficult things in a project can be addressed by testing. You want to know about which functionality developers are having trouble with, and you will adjust your schedule depending on risks that need mitigation first.
17.Rumors.
There are usually lots of talk about quality and problems floating around. Some hurt the product and the organization. Use the rumors themselves as test ideas. It is your mission to kill them or prove them right.
18.Product History.
Old problems are likely to appear in new shapes. Search your bug/support system or create an error catalogue, remember critical failures and root cause analysis. Use old versions of your software as inspiration and oracle.
19.Test Artifacts.
Not only your own test ideas, logs and results can be used for sub-sequent tests, also try out test results from other projects, Beta testing reports, usability evaluations, 3rd party test results etc. What questions do you want to be able to answer in future
status reports?
20.Debt.
The idea that a debt is constantly growing because of all the shortcuts being made. This could be project debt, managerial debt, technical debt, software debt, testing debt or whatever you wish to call it. If the team keep track on what is on the debt list, you can map a set of test ideas against those items.
21.Business Knowledge.
If you know the purpose of the software, and the context it operates in, you can understand if it will provide vale to customers. If you can’t acquire this knowledge, co-operate with someone who knows the needs, logic and environment.
22.Field Information.
Besides knowledge about customer failures, their environments, needs and feelings, you can take the time to understand your customers both in error and success mode. Interview pre-sales, sales, marketing, consultants, support people, or even better: work there for a while.
23.Users.
Think about different types of users (people you know, personas), different needs, different feelings, and different situations.
Find out what they like and dislike, what they do next to your software. Setup a scene in the test lab where you assign the testers to role play different users, what test ideas are triggered from that? Best is of course unfiltered information directly from users, in their context.
Remember that two similar users might think very differently about the same area.
24.Conversations.
The informal information you get from people may contain things that are more important than what’s included in specifications. Many people can help you with your test design, some are better judges of importance, what can you gain from MIP:s(Mention In Passing)?
If developers know you can find interesting stuff, they might give you insider information about dubious parts of the software. A set of questions to a developer might be an innocent “what do you think we should test?” or “what part of your code would you have liked to do better?”
25.Actual Software.
By interacting with the software, you will get a lot of ideas about what is error-prone, connected, interesting. If you can eat your own dog food (euphemism: sip your own champagne), you are in much better position to understand what is important about the software. If “Quality is value to some person”, it is pretty good if that person is “me”.
26.Technologies.
By knowing the inner workings of the technology your software operates in, you can see problematic areas and things that tend to go wrong; understand possibilities and security aspects; which parameters to change, and when. You can do the right variations, and have technical discussions with developers.
27.Standards.
Dig up relevant business standards, laws and regulations. Read and understand user interface standards, security compliance, policies. There are articles out there that describe how you can break something even if it adheres to the standards, can you include their test ideas in yours?
28.References.
Reference material of various kinds is a good source for oracles and testing inspiration, e.g. an atlas for a geographic product. General knowledge of all types can be handy, and Wikipedia can be enough to get a quick understanding of a statistical method.
29.Competitors.
By looking at different solutions to similar problems you can get straightforward test ideas, but also a feeling of which characteristics end users might focus on. There might be in-house solutions (e.g. Excel sheets) to be inspired by, and often there exists analogue solutions for similar purposes. Can you gain any insightful test ideas from your competitors support, FAQ or other material?
30.Tools.
If something can be done very fast, it is a good idea to try it. Tools are not only the means to an end, they can also be used as the starting point for exploration.
31.Context Analysis.
What else in the current situation should affect the things you test, and how? Do you know about the market forces and project drivers? Is there anything that has changed that should lead to new ways of testing? What is tested by others?
32.Legal aspects.
Do you need to consider contracts, penalties or other legal obligations? What would cost the company the most in a legal issue? Do you have lawyer that can give you hints on what must be avoided?
33.Many Deliverables.
There are many things to test: the executable, the installation kit, programming interfaces, extensions, code & comments, file properties, Help, other documentation, Release Notes, readme:s, marketing, training material, demos etc. All of these also contain information you can use as inspiration.
34.YOU!
Your experience, knowledge, skills, feelings, subjectivity, and familiarity with problems. What do you want to test?
btw，在接下来的文章中，我将会着重讲解如何获取细化的测试数据。