Using a Mind-Map to help you Test better

Well to start off with, this technique is surely not rocket science. I was introduced to this technique by Pradeep Soundararajan, one of the most respected Software Testers in India who blew me off my feet with the sheer simplicity of the technique. A Mind-Map is essentially a very simple way by which a Tester can visually represent all the hard work he has done in a graphical manner. This include the features he has tested, the questions (both resolved and unresolved) he had about the product under test, the bugs that he uncovered during testing and so on.

            Now, you may have a question as to how a Mind-Map can actually help us as Software Testers? Well, how many times have we faced a situation where we have done a lot of sanity / exploratory testing without really documenting them and at a later point in time, not really being too sure about the Test coverage / the features that we have tested. Consider another situation where the testing team has got a clarification from the development team and not documented it anywhere. At a later point in time, there could be an issue where both the development and testing teams claim that they are correct.

            Using a Mind-Map can help us document all this and more as is evident in the Mind-Map below (the Mind-Map shown below is for a GL Posting Entry in the FI module in SAP) – 

 

            We start with creating a central node for the ‘Test Case / Feature’ to be tested.  Next, we attach the ‘Test Case’ document (if available) as a sub node. The ‘Process / Functionality’ (features in scope) is listed as the next sub node. And next we get on to the action – ‘Test Execution’ where we list down the exact test steps that we run, when a particular test cycle has been run, what are the areas where there is an issue and needs to be flagged and so on. ‘Questions’ is also another sub node that can be added, where we document the questions / queries that we have raised along with the responses that we have received. And lastly our favorite node ‘Bugs / Issues’ where we document the bugs that we have uncovered along with the flag number (if applicable) from the ‘Test Execution’ and the ‘Defect Id’ from the defect tracking tool.