Common Sense is Uncommon

I know, I know….I’m stating the obvious again.

But geesh, people!  Why cannot common sense be more common than uncommon?

Please??

Pretty please with sugar?

I am working with a project team that is not my own.  I made the big mistake of asking if anyone needed help and got the fun job of assigning defects during project testing back to the appropriate analyst for assessment.  If you have not worked doing any sort of software implementation before, it goes like this:

1. Write up the requirements.
2. Design the system to the requirements.
3. Build the system.
4. Test the system.
5. Fix the bugs.
6. Retest the system.
7. Train the users.
8. Have the users test the system.
9. Fix the bugs.
10. Retest the system.
11. Go live on the system.
12. Celebrate the project is done.

This is a basic flow of how things go. I could go into agile develop cycles or “SCRUM” cycles where there are pigs and chicken – but let’s just stick with the simple, tried and true approach. 

We are on step 4.   The system is getting tested based on a test list of what to test.  This list includes things like how many characters you should be able to type into a field, testing that the forms look right, testing that if you hit that button it does what it is supposed to, etc.  All the little pieces are getting tested.

If a bug is found, it has to be reviewed by someone who knows what should have happened. Our testers have no idea. They are working off of test scripts created from the requirements documents.  The documents could have changed, so its always a good place to start.

Yesterday and today, I have been assigning the defects back to the people who know the requirements.  They wrote the requirements. After pissing them all off yesterday (because they have enough to do – they shouldn’t have to support testing too), I finally got a flaming email of “Great, what are we supposed to do now??”

Even if you are new to the process, step one would be simple.  READ the defect.  No, I had to tell them to read them. 

“OK, we read them. Now what?”

Are you kidding me??

So, I sent them another message.  “Is what is expected to happen supposed to happen based on the requirements YOU wrote?”

“We have to look at the requirements again?!?”

Head-desk.

This process has continued on and on as I am literally spoon feeding them stuff that – to most people, let alone people in their job position – would think is common sense.  I mean “using what you know of the project, does that defect make sense as a valid one?”  Followed by “Does it work that way for you?”  Easy stuff.

“Ok, so it is a valid defect, now what?”

Oh, Lord, grant me the serenity to not kill one of them. Or at least provide me a weapon that will motivate the others to use the brains located in their heads.

Today, I have had to listen to rant after rant about how this doesn’t make sense that they would have to test it too.  It’s not their job. (It IS their job.)  They don’t have time. (This is all they have to do.)  There are a lot of them. (Of course there are a lot – it’s the first couple days of testing.)  It’s hard. (No shit. It’s why its called work.) 

My favorite lack of common sense thing is a really basic thing anyone knows working in a cubicle environment.

If you are going to bitch about the woman assigning you the defects, you should not do it while standing next to her cube.  Check to make sure you know where she is sitting first.  Or better yet, do it away from the cubes. 

And yes, I did make sure that person got more defects assigned to them than the others. 

Hey, I don’t care if they get pissed off.  I’m not the project manager. I’m only the idiot that should have had enough common sense to say “no”. 

What do you think?

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