In the last few weeks I've read the entire Twilight series. Although I'll admit sometimes I had to stop and laugh and read the dialog outloud. While it was a good stress reducer while mourning the loss of our much loved cat who lost kidney function and sadly passed away on Wednesday, I thought it had some good lessons for testing.

1. Does it dazzle you in the sunlight? Beauty.

As yourself, as a user, is this stuff sparkley? Is it really something special? If not, what would be like sunlight for this user experience? As a tester it's your job to help shape the product. We get so used to thinking in the negative that sometimes we forget that we can have a powerful influence for the good of the user beyond just protecting them from bugs.

2. Don't forget to be human. Imperfection.

For our vampire friends, it's all about moving enough, blinking, but for testers who've been in the industry for awhile, we have knowledge the user may not have. Well perfect! That makes us enhanced with supertester vampire powers, but mere humans are going to be using the products, so let's not forget the impatient, imperfect humans and pretend to be human for your test cases. Don't forget that your automation isn't usually the best at being human, so it may need to be supplimented to get that sort of coverage. I mean REAL human. A very imperfect scenario.

3. When things go all Werewolf--be prepared. Phases.

No what are the wolf phasers? That would be leap years, that darn Globalization/Localizability (test early, test often, phase in advance), environmental changes (operating system, browser, ect), and that most dreaded PHASE of all, maintaining and supporting it once it's out the door. Also, don't forget our natural enemies, those who are waiting to exploit any security hole.

4. Hunt early, Hunt often, Hunt together.

In the books it is dangerous for the vampires to wait too long to hunt because they will lose control and start killing. So it is also dangerous for us to wait too long to test, let the project get out of control, and kill the quality. The hunting may not be ideal, but as soon as something is ready to test, jump right on it. If the timing is just right, set up a hunting party with a few buddies and really take advantage.

5. What you want may not be possible, but explore what is.

We all know that love between a vampire and a frail human has many limitations. You are but one frail tester in a den of test cases. What will you do when ideal isn't available? Well, you will do what you can the whole time working towards ideal. Impossible is not an excuse.

6. Love is powerful, but you can't ignore fact.

If Edward just went on instict alone it would be a short series indeed. For this reason, use your passion to drive you to do the best job possible but use the data to help with what your priorities are and what your limitations are. Some processes may need to be adapted to work in your context.