Why I am context-driven

(This post was first published on the DEWT site as part of a blog post series by the DEWT members .)

Why am I context-driven? Because it’s more fun.

That’s all there is to it.

Of course I could argue that becoming context-driven has made me a better tester and I do think it has. Yet it’s not the reason I became a context-driven tester. Besides, how would I prove it made me a better tester?

So no, I am context-driven because it’s more fun. Because it sees testing as an intellectual challenge. Because it allows human uncertainty to be at the core of what it is. Because it tells me that I’m in charge of what I do and how I do it. Because it encourages me to dive in at the deep end of some complex problem, trusting on my skills to get out on top and enjoying every step of the way.

And I am context-driven because there’s a context-driven community filled with people who feel the same way.

To me it boils down to this: what do I want testing to be? Do I want it to be about documents, processes and best practices? Or do I want it to be about skills, wonder and investigation? That’s not a difficult choice: I want the latter.

And now the devil’s advocate may ask: But what if it makes you not a better but a worse tester? In a way I don’t care. Testing based on skills and investigation is the job I fell in love with it. If I couldn’t do that, if I wasn’t allowed to be a context-driven tester, I do not think I would be a tester at all.