Tester Vs Developer – Is this the worst it could get?

We all know the kind of relationship the tester and the developer share. It’s not good, there is bitterness involved from both sides.

Take a look at the below conversation which happened between the developer and a tester after the tester raised an invalid defect in the developer's module.

<Start>

Developer: You raised a defect?

Tester: Which one are you talking about?

Dev: The one you found in my module. Defect ID: xxxxxxx

Tester: Oh yeahh...What about it??

Dev: Can you repro this on your kit once again and show me where the error is coming??

The tester, with a big smile on his face, shows the developer the error.

Dev: This is an invalid defect. You are missing out on some pre-requisites.

Tester: Well, there is no Help Me or Readme file here, which suggests any kind of pre-requisites or is there?

Dev:  No , there isn't but the users are aware. Go and read the release notes.

Tester: The release notes are not for me to read, it's for the customer, isn't it?? If you have any problems with this defect, then please mention it in the defect management tool.

Dev: Why would I, it's not assigned to me !!!

Tester: OK, no probs.

Dev: And please get a understanding of this functionality and processes. You don't know how to test !!

The last statement really got me boiled. I really wanted to kick him !!!!

Tester: If you have so much problems with my understanding, then give me a KT regarding this, I'll ask your manager to arrange it.

Dev: Who am I to give you a KT !!!

<End>

Now, when this conversation was happening , the Dev Manager was there and listening to each and every thing but he didn't bother to stop the developer and instead told me that he is kinda moody. Apart from the Developer questioning my integrity, this was another sad moment of that day. I don't know if this is the worst that I have faced head on with the developer or is there more to come but I really hope no other tester faces such kind of situations.

There is a very thin line between the tester and the developer which should never be crossed.  A good tester should never think that a bug is a developer’s lack of skill or lack of “anything”.  A good developer should never think that the tester is raising defects on purpose(well, that’s only an assumption :P).

It only means that the tester and developer have different understanding. A valid defect means the developer had a different understanding while coding it and an invalid defect means the same for the tester while testing.

The “fight” starts when people start taking these things personally. Why do they take it personally??? It's not your pet project, you're just working for a company which pays you a 0.'x' % of their revenue. 

Now let me ask you one question. If you are married and have a kid, if somebody points out a mistake in your kid, that his forehead is too big, then you'd obviously want to rip that person's head off. The same is the case with the developers. Developers think of their written code as their baby, well some of them do.

Lessons Learnt that day:

1. Test twice and discuss with the peer tester before raising defects i.e if you are not sure about it.
2. Don't get too much involved with the developer.