Cognitive Biases In Software Testing

When you think about testing tools, do you think about the brain first? Deep thinking is necessary for good testing. That’s why it’s very important to develop critical thinking skills to improve the way you test. But, no matter how good you already are at critical thinking, you will make thinking errors. This is because we all are influenced by cognitive biases. This has impactful consequences for testing because wasn’t testing supposed to be unbiased and factual? This course will help you navigate the harsh reality that your testing will be influenced by biases and thinking errors.

I will help you recognise cognitive biases and explain what they are.

How do they affect your behaviour? Can you avoid them? How do you recognise the most important biases in yourself and in others? How do you improve testing despite being biased? How do you get your team to test more effectively (despite being influenced by biases)?

Daniel Kahneman has written a very comprehensive book centred around this topic: “Thinking, Fast and Slow”. This book has been an inspiration and a great source for this course.

No prerequisite course needed, no need to know about the cognitive sciences. Tools needed: brain. Not compulsory, but the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” for more in-depth learning about this topic.

Optional: finding a learning partner to make the reflection and feedback easier.