Where You Stand Depends On Where You Sit

Let us come back for a moment to my previous post, where I shared "weird" questions that I was asked on job interviews for software testing role.

Yesterday, during our late evening walk, I asked my partner, a .NET programmer, how he would test a soda machine. Without giving it much thought, he started spilling questions:

• does it make soda?
• is it refillable, like in Pizza Hut (or any kind of fast food chain place)?
• what kind of flavours are there?
• when you push the button, does it give you the soda you requested?
• is the soda sufficiently sparkly?
• is the soda cold?

He didn't even think of a vending machine. I asked him other questions, about the pen, the paper cup and the clock, and his train of thought was slightly different from mine in each case.

To build a shared understanding about the product, that the development team has to deliver, we need different perspectives.
Imagine a simple user story that is two sentences long. Everyone seems to get it, but often it turns out there were some misconceptions, because everyone interprets those sentences differently.
It is important for the team to consists of a diverse people - men and women, people with various cultural background, ethnicity or geographical location, etc. They bring their own perspective, knowledge, insides and experiences to the table.