Alberto's GTAC key note triggered interesting emotions across the testing community. Here is my take on his talk, challenges, opportunities and how the future of testing might transform into.

1. Test is Dead?
-­‐ Swamy
Seetharaman

2. The
Context
• GTAC
Key
Note,
Test
is
dead
by
Alberto
Savoia,
Engineering
Director
@
Google
-­‐
hAp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1jWe5rOu3g
• One
can
easily
dismiss
this
as
@#$%
but…….
• Our
iceberg
is
melTng…
– Can
we
do
something
about
it
NOW?

3. Nature
of
fast
changing
products
• Agility
in
Release
is
key
and
we
just
can’t
compromise
on
speed
– It
is
more
about
building
the
right
product,
rather
than
building
the
product
the
right
way
– TradiTonal
tesTng
is
viewed
as
something
which
is
slowing
down
the
ability
to
respond
quickly
to
business
needs
• Higher
degree
of
tolerance
to
bugs
• Required
level
of
Quality
is
subjecTve
and
most
of
the
Tme
Quality
seems
to
be
secondary
to
Agility
– Yes,
there
are
excepTons,
point
well
taken!
• Quality
is
not
free
and
it
is
expensive!
• TesTng
is
ge_ng
democraTzed
and
commodiTzed
– More
&
More
tesTng
is
ge_ng
moved
to
code
– TesTng
is
moving
to
Dev
and
User
community
(real
users)
– TesTng
is
ge_ng
outsourced
and
crowd
source
more
&
cloud
sourced

4. TesTng
Brand
value
• What
is
the
Brand
Value
of
Sohware
TesTng?
– How
moTvated
are
the
freshers
from
top
universiTes
to
take
up
tesTng?
• How
can
we
make
Sohware
TesTng
appealing
and
interesTng
at
grass
root
level?
– Is
tesTng
looked
at
as
an
easy
path
with
decent
pay?
– When
you
start
a
startup
at
what
point
would
you
hire
a
tester?
• How
can
we
create
a
strong
and
compelling
value
proposiTon?
– Dev
:
QA
RaTo?
• How
does
10:1
sound?,
This
is
a
reality
in
some
pockets!
– Who
are
the
soh
targets
when
there
is
a
layoff?

5. OpportuniTes
• Banking,
Financial,
Medical,
Enterprise
applicaTons
etc.
will
conTnue
to
have
a
strong
need
for
Quality
• Developer
tesTng
is
not
fool
proof
and
it
is
flawed
– When
it
comes
to
tesTng
of
IntegraTon
and
End
to
End
workflows,
testers
will
conTnue
have
the
most
context
both
from
a
Business
and
Technology
perspecTve
• Risk
miTgaTon
will
conTnue
to
have
massive
value
– This
will
help
organizaTons
to
define
the
right
level
of
Quality
requirements
based
on
the
risks
to
Business
and
impact
to
key
customer
experiences
• Testers
are
in
the
best
posiTon
to
bridge
the
gaps
in
understanding
between
Business
and
Technology
requirements.
• Testers
should
start
playing
an
important
role
in
Usability
studies,
A/B
tesTng
etc.
– How
can
testers
help
to
build
the
right
products?

6. Future
of
tesTng
–
only
Tme
will
tell!
• TesTng
will
get
democraTzed
and
the
quantum
of
specialized
testers
might
come
down
• We
will
see
a
strong
focus
on
Repeatability
– Manual
tesTng
will
come
down
significantly
• Quality
risk
miTgators
will
be
the
most
sought
out
• Testers
will
find
more
idea
bugs
and
code
bugs
– Its
is
all
about
finding
issues
much
early
before
the
tradiTonal
tesTng
cycle
• Testers
will
conTnue
to
play
a
key
role
to
bridge
the
gaps
in
understanding
between
Business
and
Technology
requirements
• Subject
maAer
experts
in
Non
FuncTonal
TesTng
will
conTnue
to
be
valued
– TesTng
for
Performance,
Scalability,
Longevity,
Usability,
Security,
Fault
Tolerance
etc.
will
conTnue
to
evolve.
• Out
sourcing,
Crowd
sourcing
and
cloud
sourcing
will
flourish
but
not
at
an
exponenTal
rate
• Pretotypers
will
be
valued
Software Testing will resurrect in a new Avatar!

7.
SuggesTons,
Concerns,
QuesTons?
swamy.seetharaman@gmail.com
twiAer
@swamyseetharam