Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter
1
Introduction to Software
Testing Management
Believe me, software testing management is one of the most difficult tasks out
there. There are many reasons for this. First, a software product is not a tangible
thing that can be measured, physically felt, or sampled. So it is difficult to test
a software product. Second, software testing is still not considered a recognized
trade and so finding professionally qualified people for the testing job is difficult.
Third, unlike well-defined and standardized processes for product design, product
development, quality control, and so on, which exist for any product development
activity, similar standardized processes have yet to be defined for software testing.
Fourth, tools for automation of software testing activities are still in their nascent
stage, and it will take time to have sophisticated automation tools available for
software testing activities. Fifth, effort estimation techniques for software testing
activities are still being evolved, and currently effort estimation is done mostly on
an ad hoc basis.
Yet, the importance of software testing is so immense! Any failure of the soft-
ware product or application can cause damages to the tune of millions of dollars for
any company. Even if the software defect is not so big, the support cost can run in
the thousands of dollars over the life of the software product.
To better understand software testing management, let us first try to under-
stand what is a defect in a product, how it affects a user, what the user feels when
he finds a defect in a product after buying and using it, how to prevent defects, and
finally how to identify and remove defects in the physical world. Then from there
we can go to software engineering and software testing. From there we can move
on to software testing management aspects.
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