All you wanted to know about “Tester Tested”….

Sometime back, i had been introduced to Mr. Pradeep Soundararajan. He is one person I know who is intensely passionate about his profession i.e. Software testing and this is pretty much evident by just having a look at his blog on Software testing. It is quite easily one of the successful blogs on Software testing and each and every paragraph of his posts will give an idea on how much he loves his profession. To add to this having a look at his 2007 achievements , one will get a fair idea about his intensity and single-mindedness to achieve what he has set for himself.
In one of my email conversations with him, i asked him to share his handwriting with me. My purpose of asking him about the same was to gain more insights into personality of a person who is so passionate about his profession and as a part of larger objective it was to help me in my interest to understand the correlation between Software Testing and the science of handwriting analysis. He gracefully agreed to share with me and then started my yet another journey to deep dive and understand his personality by the stokes of his pen.
I had shared my analysis with Pradeep and he seemed to agree with all the findings. In this post though, i would like to share those aspects of his personality that has helped him be so good at testing. Here are a few snippets from his overall analysis. (Please remember that the text that follows is only on the basis of Pradeep's handwriting and its not diluted with anything that i know of him by little interaction I had with him over email)

Analytical and Investigative Thinker:
Pradeep is having analytical thinking pattern in his personality. Being analytical has nothing to do with speed at which one processes information- Instead being analytical deals with how one processes information. He interprets all the facts by separating them, breaking them down, and organizing them from a critical point of view. He has a strong reasoning ability. He also has the tendency to be investigative in his thinking approach.
Such a thinking pattern is ideal for Software testing as it helps the tester to think about all the facts and possibility and then get to an informed decision about a defect or any other work situation and can further help in effectively troubleshooting issues on own. Being Investigative helps a tester to carry out the Exploratory testing effectively.

Fluidity of thoughts:
Pradeep possess a great deal of Fluidity of thoughts. Fluidity of thoughts denotes the ability of a person to move from one thought to other or from one thought pattern to another with ease. With the help of this trait, he has the ability to write or express your ideas with graceful fluidity. This in turn helps him take people along with him when he conveys something- a sure-shot sign of a good speaker and writer.
Being effectively able to communicate what is intended is one of the key requirements of being an good tester. One can imagine a situation of a tester who is very good at finding bugs but when it comes to communicating bugs, he/she fumbles. Such a person will have a huge difficulty in advocating the bug. With the fluidity of thoughts comes effective communication, which distinguishes an average tester from a great one.

Planning:
Pradeep is practical person whose goals are planned. He has the need to see end of the project at the beginning (before the start).Everything is mapped out- the entire route he is going to take- even if he is just going across town. He plans everything in advance and finds joy in anticipation.
Effective testers are good a planning and organizing things. Imagine a state of tester who starts his/her day or a project without any goal in mind. It is definite that such a person is going to lose his way in between. Effective testers begin with the end in mind and have a great clarity of what is expected of them.

Perfectionism:
Pradeep has a lot of structure. He spends a lot of time putting everything in place and reviews work trying to make it more precise.
Effective testers do believe in the precept- "Doing the things right the first time, every time". Testers are employed to find mistakes that developers make or the ones that happen at the early stages of project life cycle and in doing so if tester again makes a mistake- it costs organization a lot and put questions on the need of Software testing. Therefore, Perfectionism is indeed a desirable trait for Software testing profession.

Concentration:
Pradeep has a tremendous ability to concentrate and focus on project/any task that he takes. If he is concentrating and focusing very hard on some project then he tends to forget everything else around him. He has the ability to eliminate all outside noises, thoughts, interference, and ability to concentrate fully on one subject.
It goes without saying- who will be an effective tester, the one whose mind wanders and keeps jumping from one focus area to other or the one who focuses intensely on task at hand ?
As I talked briefly about the strong co-relation between the science of handwriting analysis and Software profession in one of my previous posts , this analysis goes a step further in proving the same.
Thanks very much Pradeep for helping me out with this activity.