In our work we assess the quality of software to give well-grounded advice on the “go live” decision. We test software to prevent bad things from happening to users once the software is deployed. However, in some cases, the mere act of testing breaches safety barriers and can put companies on the spot, causing embarrassment, damage, or even death. The worst test ever to go bad—the Chernobyl meltdown which cost approximately 200,000 lives―was caused by a stress test executed in production. By analyzing a number of real life testing “accidents” of this category, Bart Knaack helps us understand how to prevent them. The accidents Bart describes have resulted in either front page news, millions in damage, or embarrassment at C-level. Bart goes through the examples, challenging the audience to discover solutions to prevent testing accidents from happening to you. He hopes you will take home these lessons learned and and apply in your world.

1. 4/23/15
1
Avoid Testing Mistakes or Really
Bad Things Can Happen
Bart.knaack@proftest.nl
WHY DO WE TEST?

2. 4/23/15
2
WHAT IF TESTING GOES WRONG

3. 4/23/15
3
Case 1:”Captain, we have a problem”
Case 2:”And the crowd goes wild..”

4. 4/23/15
4
Case 3:”mailbom, mailbom, you’re my
mailbom”
Case 4: “The need for speed”

5. 4/23/15
5
Case 5: “Barbados, here I come”
Case 6: “But I am still alive?!”

6. 4/23/15
6
Case 7: “Where is that **(& USB-key?
Case 8: “Ahhh, THAT’s how they do it!”

7. 4/23/15
7
Case 9:” Sorry Mister Gates, your
creditrating has dropped”
LESSONS LEARNED

8. 4/23/15
8
• Testing in production
• Production/Test confusion
• Separation of test and production facilities
• Configuration management
• Production data in testing environments
• Barricade the frontdoor, but leave the backdoor
open.