Verification and Validation is not only about tools, methods and processes. Crucial is also people and how they think.

The "Six Thinking Hats" is a thinking and problem solving tool developed by Edward de Bono [1]. Julian Harty at Google has adapted the hats to testing and presents the "Six Testing Hats" [2]. Julian has successfully applied this both in reviews, for checklists and in creating acceptance tests. They can be a good way to structure the thinking involved in V&V.

In general there is a lack of research and results on how the thinking, personality and psychology of testers, affect the testing. However, there is a growing community of people who want to acknowledge and investigate this mental side of software development more [3].

How is your V&V thinking doing today?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats
[2] http://newsweaver.ie/qualtech/e_article000666359.cfm?x=b11,0,w
[3] http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~jr/ppig08/program.html

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SWELL is a National Innovation Driver for Software V&V funded by Vinnova and a number of Swedish universities and companies.
http://www.swell.se


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