Software testers have two kinds of skills: one set used to perform basic duties at work, and another set of skills used to approach work. Testers have an instinct and understanding for where and how software might fail, and how to find failures. A tester has the soft skills to influence and communicate in a manner that they become vital to the project, whether they are fighting their way in or are enthusiastically welcomed with an open door. Testing requires a toolbox full of soft skills including: communication, influencing, negotiating, emotional intelligence, reading skills, time management and effort prioritization, good communication, great patience, perseverance, analytical and negative thinking.
Negative thinking can be the useful for tester if it is applied at the right time. For a new product, a tester is working to create a QA plan or a master test plan. While mentioning the risks involved in the project, a tester has to consider all the things that can go wrong during the lifecycle of project. Training the mind to think negatively in such situations helps testers develop an efficient contingency plan. Let’s also consider the test-design phase. An important part of test coverage and design are the tests that represent the way the application under test could fail. Every tester would agree that testing is incomplete without such tests. Thus, negative testing is a skill. Communication and interpersonal skills form the necessary ingredients for success in any profession. The Testing department is often considered as the information source for management. This information pertains to product health at any given time in product’s lifecycle. Soft skills are extremely important for the people in software testing and this is something that is often found to be neglected by the upcoming testers. In order to become tester with great skills, Soft skills have to be given their due importance.
