What is a Test Model?

What is a test model? How do models inform testing? Why talk about test models? I want to say this: “that all testing is based on models”.

Now your experience might be that on a training course, trainers and testers tend to focus on what we call the standard test design techniques. Now they are called test design techniques. But really what we teach is we teach them as clerical processes. We don't teach modelling.

Now what we find that when we try and use the techniques on real requirements, it's quite hard to apply them systematically and comprehensively, and to rely on techniques only. We still find that most tests are guessed not designed.

In the “what is a model” video, I said that models are at the heart of test design. I'll say that again because they are, but I want to talk about initially how we teach test design, typically in the certification schemes, but in other classes as well that you might find on the internet and commercially.

When we teach a technique, the usual way we present the exercises required for you to learn these things is we might provide a question like this, “using this prepared requirement fragment, it happens to fit equivalence partitioning or boundary values, or some other technique: Create tests using this technique”.

We don't teach modelling, so our understanding of the technique is only partial. This video explains what a test model is in more detail.

If you want to know more about the concepts I'm talking about in the glossary of terms videos, it will probably help you if you take a look at the leadership in test online class that I created a year or two ago, it covers some of the topics in more detail and obviously provides more of a structured approach to explanations of the concepts. It also gives you some idea of how to do some of the things I talk about. I hope you can take a look at it and get value out of it. The link is here: https://bit.ly/leadintest