Chess is one of the brilliant games and no one could deny it. But have you ever wondered that the chess pieces have a lot of similarities with the Tester’s role and our everyday IT life. 

Yes, we are facing a lot of challenges every day and we take on new roles and responsibilities based on it. We need to act differently for different situations. 

We all know that life is a game, and we all are players here. So let’s see in detail about each Chess piece and what the similarities between them and our roles are. 

 

The King

The King is the most important one among the chess coins, because the entire game revolves around the King. He is the most influential and decision-maker. All other pieces are meant to play the game protecting the King. If there’s no King, then there’s no game at all.   

Sometimes, we should act as King to avoid conflicts in the Team. There should be only one decision maker and multiple ones will lead to chaos. You need power, authority to decide and everything in the project is revolving around you. This role helps you to make right decisions, guide/build the team better. I believe that every Project/Test Manager should think and act like a king.

The Queen

The Queen is the most powerful piece of all, with a lot of freedom provided she tends to save her King and Territory. She can move in any direction and take down anything that comes her way. She is aware of her strengths and weaknesses. 

Also, I strongly believe that this QUEEN is a demonstration where it implies that the Women are given more freedom since they are capable of handling it. Women are good at multitasking and delivering the quality at the same time. So this role is suitable for Testers who are given a lot of freedom in the project and in turn they deliver the best. 

During certain circumstances, we need Testers to behave smart as the Queen and make use of their freedom in a realistic and diligent way. Here comes the role of the Test Lead. I would say that a Test Lead should react and play the game with Queen’s attitude.

The Bishop

There are two bishops and they are close to the king and queen. They are considered as the third most powerful piece. Next to the King and Queen they have the power and authority to make decisions. But they play the game the same way and same move. 

Sometimes we have our senior associates in the team who are not ready to take risks and play it. But they have the power and they are a bit hesitant to make new rules/changes since they are so inclined towards the process. We cannot deny the fact that they have great knowledge of the project.

The Knight

The Knight is the only piece, who can skip in between pieces on the chessboard. They are happy-go-lucky and smarter ones. Other than Pawns, they have the power to start the game. 

They are some new joiners to the team with few years of experience and knowledge in new tools/technologies. They are energetic, vibrant and enthusiastic. They are well aware of their roles and responsibilities. They needed a little mentorship initially and they can work smart and play the game and make unexpected magic happen.

The Rook

They are strong, hefty and powerful ones and the front-liners during the war. They provide support to the remaining pieces. They form a protective layer to the castle. 

In every project there will be a handful of techy, nerd people. They like to play around with the tools and make our work easier. They are super smart and will be ready to take challenges any time. I would say they are the rooks of the project.

Pawns

Pawns are the underrated pieces in the chessboard, due to its power limitation. They are more in number with less power on the chessboard. 

I would relate this to the trainees in our team. They might have less knowledge on the project, but I feel they are the most underrated ones. If they receive proper guidance they thrive. We all need to understand the needs of them and should work together for the team’s success.

Final thoughts!

These are the different chess pieces to which I can relate with few of our roles. Sometimes we need to play more than one role. It depends on the place and situation we are in. Of Course this is your game, and you need to play it your way. 

This is completely based on my views and perception. Which one are you? Please comment, let’s hear it out from you. Let’s celebrate each other!

References

https://www.britannica.com/topic/chessmen

Disclaimer: Inspired by the Queen’s Gambit series in Netflix

About Author

Pricilla is an AWS Certified Passionate Test Engineer currently working with Billennium IT Services (M) Sdn – Malaysia, with a decade of experience in Quality Assurance. She has experience in different flavors of Testing like Functional, EDI, ETL, Automation and API Testing. She is so keen and loves to handle APIs. She is a Postman Supernova and speaks at various events regarding APIs and Postman. She is an “AWS Community Builder”, and the global ambassador of WomenTech Network. She is a strong believer of Karma.