Let's talk about test... Amber Groenendijk

In the blog series Let's talk about test.... we like to read the various experiences and visions of test professionals in the field of testing and software quality. This time, meet Amber Groenendijk, test coordinator at Erasmus MC.

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"The biggest mistake you can make as a novice tester is to think that people know what testing is."

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Who is Amber?

You can go either way with that question, haha. I am a test coordinator at Erasmus MC and grew up in Rotterdam. I now live with my fiancé and four bunnies in Rhoon. ‍

Bunnies?

Yes that is my passion. I once picked up two bunnies from the animal shelter. Very soon number three and number four joined them as well. I am now training to become a rabbit trimmer. It would be fun to do this as a hobby. ‍

Why rabbit trimmer?

One of the rabbits is a long-haired rabbit and it needs to be trimmed every six weeks. That's how the idea of becoming a rabbit trimmer came about.

Did you want to be a test coordinator in grade school?

No, I wanted to be a veterinarian. But also detective and writer. As you can see, none of that worked out.

Veterinarian? Hence the rabbits?

I liked medicine but at the same time I found it scary. I was less scared of animals, so that's where the idea arose to become a veterinarian. Actually, I like all animals. In my youth it was mainly horses and cats. The love for rabbits came later.

How did you get into the testing business?

I studied in Wageningen at the WUR. There I obtained my master's degree in molecular nutrition and toxicology. As a result, I ended up at TNO. There I worked as a scientist for almost two years. Due to budget cuts, my contract was not renewed. I then spent a long time searching for what I actually wanted to do and looked at numerous vacancies.

IT seemed very interesting to me and it is something that is also becoming increasingly important. Through YoungCapital I started a traineeship DevOps and obtained several IT certifications that are in high demand.  

And when did you encounter testing?

My first assignment in IT was with a company in Dordrecht. My work consisted mainly of development. This was not really for me. It was too much focus on one specific part.

The other side of IT, application testing, seemed a bit more light-hearted and broader to me. You're then not working on one piece of code but more of a broad view of IT. Eventually I ended up at Erasmus MC through YoungCapital. That was at the beginning of the corona period, which was very strange. After all, everyone had to work from home. I started there in the role of test coordinator, over four years ago now. If you think about it, it is actually strange that there is no possibility to study test management besides internal training.

How would you describe the culture within Erasmus regarding testing?

That varies tremendously from team to team. As test coordinators, we hover over the teams. Certain teams are very used to testing and are test-minded. Other teams are more technical (e.g., infrastructure). Those again are less test-minded. To such teams we need to give a little more attention, encouragement and guidance.

Why is that so?

Not every team works with the final product in a direct sense. Then there is a focus on technical issues, which they have good control over. As a result, they see less of the importance of testing as a bigger picture.

So the testing culture is pretty good at Erasmus MC?

It is growing. We are still often deployed too late. A project leader then comes to us in the final phase of a project. However, we prefer to step into a project earlier. This way, you can already come up with test cases for requirements. This forms the basis for later test execution. When this has to be done at the end of the project, there is suddenly a rush. Then there is insufficient time to properly test and resolve defects . As a result, going live is then delayed or going live and accepting the risks. This is not always wise.

What is your role regarding test culture?

We form our own team within IT of four people under the IT manager information management. To create more clarity our team is now called Test Coaching & Consulting team. Previously we were called the test team which made people think we are testers. Therefore, we have changed it so that it is clear that we do not do test execution ourselves.

What milestone have you reached at Erasmus MC

What has been a very important benchmark is the introduction of a very good test management tool that everyone can use. Not only focused on testing HiX but for multiple projects where testing is required. We now have twelve different environments in Testersuite. It helps us as coordinators and also project leaders and the people testing to have an overview of projects.

How does it help those who test?

In the HiX project they have a very good overview of which relay notes there are, what they are for, who they are for and what the status is. If there are defects they are followed up well because the testers know very well what the status of a defect is. You have the information at a glance.

Another milestone is the realization of test automation for the HiX part. We are doing this with ICTestautomation. We are going to link this with Testersuite. We are already in contact with both parties about this.

What has Testersuite brought to Erasmus MC?

Especially structure and that we have everything centralized in one environment. From test design to defects-registration. That structure gives clarity. The ease of use of Testersuite is also ideal. Even people who don't test regularly can work fine with Testersuite and run test cases.

Physicians are also watching the release notes in Testersuite . This is still growing. This way physicians know what is changing in HiX in terms of functionality and what this means for them.

So how do doctors look into Testersuite?

We create a separate product specifically for doctors in the product tree in each test cycle . This contains new features and tasks based on the release notes.

What advantages does this offer physicians?

They can then start testing themselves on the acceptance environment and report errors and defects . They report this to the functional administrators, who create defects in Testersuite. But the doctors can also do this directly themselves in Testersuite.

What will you encounter as a test coordinator in test cycles?

Sometimes defects has a vague title and/or only an attachment with an image. It is then not well documented what the defect means and what steps were followed. The effort is good but it's just not there. I feel like describing it. There are also teams that do this well.

How do you see the future of the testing profession?

I think we are going to automate more and more. The advent of AI can help make our lives easier. We also foresee hospitals putting more effort into performance testing as well as performance measurement.

Why is performance important for the future?

The HiX production environment requires a lot of performance. It is very annoying if a patient has to wait a long time before a desk clerk finds a file. Startup sometimes takes a long time. If we can map this out by testing the performance, it gives us the opportunity to feed this back to the supplier. They can then fix this.

What role do you see for manual testing in future?

I think manual testing will always play a role. You always have to build and check test cases. Testautomation is very helpful with that because you have to do more and more with fewer people. Manual testing, AI and testautomation are going to coexist.

All test scripts we use in our test automation tool are based on test cases in Testersuite. When an automation tool fails because the script is no longer sufficient, we fall back on Testersuite.

It would be very interesting if you asked AI to create a test script for a specific functionality, though.

What is your advice to other hospitals regarding testing?

Make sure you set up a structured testing process. Start with that. If you are going to test, it is wise to test primarily risk-based. Lay that out in your testing process. You don't have to and can't test everything.

It is helpful to share low-level information about testing within your organization. That way you get the organization on board. Testing is not rocket-science, it just takes some time. That time and effort pays for itself because you have fewer risks and errors and therefore fewer production disruptions.

Above all, start small. Sit in person next to people who need to test. Go and write a test together to show that it is not difficult at all. In the beginning it will take some time but if you start small this is perfectly doable. This way you can eventually grow the testing culture.

What is your advice to someone who wants to become a tester?

Make sure you get to know your organization well. Know where to find the right people and how to connect them. So making connections is extremely important to create support for the testing process.

The biggest mistake you can make as a novice tester is to think that people know what testing is. Or thinking people know what a test script or test case is. Make sure you know what you are talking to each other about. Speak the same language with each other and test this.

Anything else you want to say?

The Testersuite user events are totally awesome. That alone is a reason to start Testersuite . The connections with other users, the sparring and the presentations given are very valuable. And always in an inspiring location.