Lesson #2: Getting to Know the Software - Introduction
When you are new to a project or looking at updates to an existing one, the first thing you need to do is get to know the software and/or updates to it.
This does not mean knowing how to code it. Rather knowing the rules of how each feature has been programmed to work, how features interact with one another, what error messages and alerts show up and when, amongst other things.
Ways You Can Learn the Software
Here are 5 of the most useful tools for learning the software:
- Asking for requirement documentation.
- Reading through end user tutorials.
- Have meetings with people who know the software well.
- Exploratory testing.
- Creating your own documentation.
Requirement documents typically have details on how the software works and is designed to look that have been created by others on the team. Sometimes this information is well organized and other times it's scattered around.
Reading through end user tutorials can help uncover some hidden functionality and get you up to speed a bit faster.
Meeting with people who know the software will get you up to speed a bit faster. You will need to take notes and ask questions. This is also a good way for you to get to know others and others to get to know you.
Exploratory testing is where you don't have any test plans nor test cases nor any real strategy for testing the software. You just go in there and explore to see how things work and happen upon any bugs.
Creating your own documentation is almost like studying for a test when you were in school. The big difference is no one will quiz you on it. The two main reasons for doing this is because there will probably be a lack of documentation created by others for you to learn from. And it is a great way to start memorizing how the software works along with acting as reminder notes.
Some of the documentation you may find yourself creating are task flows, which features work with which features, test data, what error messages say, and the rules of how a feature works.
Note: there is a chance you will get onboarding training, but I haven't heard of a lot of places that do so.
The next few lessons will cover each of the 5 ways in more detail.