Emotional Intelligence in Software Testers

Emotional intelligence refers to,

understanding our own emotions and how to use this knowledge to deal effectively with people and problems to reduce anger and hostility and create an atmosphere of collaboration to produce positive energy (Daniel Goleman).

Emotional intelligence is one of the most needed people management skills, but how it relates to software testing? Well, for many, it’s just testing, right? Finding bugs, knowing requirements, and ensuring a product delivery meets client requirements. In fact, many people think software testers are some rigid personnel with a role to just find the “bugs.”

But as much as it is easy to say and think that software testing is just mere finding bugs, it is so much more than that. Let’s think of the basic software tester’s behavior. Software testing is although to find bugs in a system. It also ensures that those bugs and issues are communicated to people effectively. The role of the software tester is to break and disrupt things to determine their true quality. They have this inherent need to ask a question. In fact, the same question in a million ways to just get the right answer. Software testers criticize the product and requirements for getting to the bottom of the business logic.