Why Read When You Can Poke? Introduction to Static Testing

🔍 What This Module Is About

You've probably heard this phrase: "I'll test it when it's built."

That's fine for finding bugs in a working product. But what about the bugs that are baked into the plan itself? What happens when the requirements are incomplete, the spec is vague, or nobody asked "what if the user clicks Cancel?"

Static testing is the answer. And it starts before the first git commit.

🎓 What You'll Learn in This Module

• The core difference between static and dynamic testing
• The "Shift Left" philosophy and why it saves money
• The types of project documentation every QA must know
• A 5-criteria quality checklist you can apply to any document

📋 Module Lessons

Lesson 1 — What Is Static Testing?

Static vs. dynamic testing. The Shift Left principle. Why earlier is cheaper.

Lesson 2 — Types of Project Documentation

PRD, BRD, Tech Specs, User Stories, Figma mockups — a field guide to what you'll review and why.

Lesson 3 — The Quality Checklist for Any Text

Five criteria that turn "I read it and it seemed okay" into a systematic, repeatable review.

💡 Module insight: The bugs you find in this module won't be in a test report — they'll be in a comment thread in Confluence. But they're real bugs. And they're the cheapest bugs you'll ever catch.

Earn the "Reader's Flashlight" 🔦 badge by completing all three lessons.