Rikard Edgren - Testing is an Island - A Software Testing Dystopia
•Download as PPT, PDF•
1 like•754 views
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to Rikard Edgren - Testing is an Island - A Software Testing Dystopia
Similar to Rikard Edgren - Testing is an Island - A Software Testing Dystopia (20)
More from TEST Huddle
More from TEST Huddle (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Rikard Edgren - Testing is an Island - A Software Testing Dystopia
- 1. Testing is an Island A Software Testing Dystopia Rikard Edgren TIBCO Spotfire Division EuroSTAR 2008-11-12, Haag
- 2. My problem • Software Testing is a lot of fun • I see trends that make it less fun • Don’t destroy the good things about software testing!
- 3. Testing is an Island • Introduction film...
- 4. Software Complexity • Software is complex; and the usage of software is even more complex • There is not one solution; no silver bullets • We need to look in many different ways
- 5. 3D Software Testing ...there are so many angles; we need to feel what is most important
- 6. Trends • “all testing is verification testing” • Status/certification/standards/specialization • You can’t control what you can’t measure • We only think about results; not about people • Management rules
- 7. Project Thinking • SMART projects are easier to manage • The future over-usage will give – Testing is very limited in scope – All testing activities are measurable – Only sometimes making a better product Keyword Negative side-effect Specific we become narrow-minded Measurable can’t use fluffy, good things Attainable can’t aim really high; no holistic stuff Realistic no objections, but I’d prefer Important Time-bound gives short-term thinking
- 8. Verification & Validation • Validation will mean looking at high-level; and verification at low-level • That validation means that the product actually does good things is forgotten • The combinations and grey areas in between will be ignored
- 9. Product Investigator • simultaneous verification & validation • many testers do this today, and it helps the products – but can’t be done by automation – and is very difficult to measure
- 10. too much focus on... ...and we lose on... precision serendipity objectivity subjectivity specialists generalists metrics judgement presentation result standardization creativity short-term long-term independence organic uniformity diversity verification validation speed depth ease complexity
- 11. Non-measurable people stuff • joy • participation • optimism • creativity • learning • trust • tolerance • motivation
- 12. ”no man is an island” (John Donne)
- 13. The Future Tester • Precise • Alone • Quiet
- 14. Holistic-Subjective Approach • Holistic – time – product – whole company – all quality aspects • Subjective – people – quality – no metrics
- 15. Summary • subjectivity is something useful • the seemingly sound ideas have risks • people and results go hand in hand
- 16. Questions • ??? • I have a paper with details and references redgren@tibco.com
Editor's Notes
- This years EuroSTAR theme is ”the future of software testing”
- My main message is that we need to keep the people aspect of software engineering.
- "Ser man till forskningen om styrning av organisationer råder det stor enighet om att organisationer med komplex verksamhet inte bör styras med hjälp av kontroller och övervakning." Hans-Åke Scherp, http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/artikel_1006953.svd
- There are a lot of defects to find and fix. There are a lot of ways to test the software; but you often test from one angle, so there are many things you miss. I want to look at many ways at the same time. The minefield problem should add a third dimension: different “quality attributes”. And the fact that when combining features, it is like you are at many places at the same time Humans can understand what is important.
- “all testing is verification testing” - Michael Bolton The root cause to most of the problems might be three-fold: Project thinking – leads to short-term results, which gives technical debt and other problems. Metrics – managers want to decide, and since they can’t know the details, they need to use numbers, that reduces the complexity, and thereby the “truth”. Specialization- Precision: Not sure where it comes from; it could be that we want to be appreciated for what we do, and it is easier to get really good at a very narrow area. I also think that for people of today, it is very important to appear as capable
- Not that Precision, Objectivity et.al. are necessarily bad; but when doing too much of them, they are really hurting our work in the sense that we don’t do what is most important
- “quality is value to some person” (Jerry Weinberg) “People are the most important asset of any company” (Tom DeMarco) “the truth is the subjectivity” (Sören Kierkegaard) The future ”by-stander” testers don’t want to get their hands dirty. But they have very nice haircuts.
- * there are many goals of software testing * testing is only a part of software development, and a part of the tester's life * subjectivity is the truth, objectivity is true, but not important * metrics and measurements are dangerous * you should choose serendipity over precision, creativity over standardization, ... A good tester should look at all quality aspects at the same time Testing is a very small, but very important part of software development, that should interact in many ways with many different persons/things Everything is connected/Things should be overlapping