On his weblog Michael Bolton posted a comment in his article Getting Them To Do The Work "If we're going to have business people write the tests, why not have them write the code for the product too? Why not have the programmers make the marketing decisions?"
I think this supports my idea that offering the business templates to fill in test cases is not the way to get the business involved in the development project and the testing activity. Certainly it will not help measure the quality or asking the proper questions to the system. It will basically only test how much knowledge the user has about the system he is already using or will be using in the nearby future.
To me software testing is a skill and needs a certain attitude. The templates we are using are mainly used to structure our process and skills and explaining the business what we are doing to help them.
If you decide to give the business users the template; then also support them with sharing knowledge how to use them.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
If software testing is so simple
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I think the tester and the business user bring in their own speciality.
ReplyDeleteThe tester can test based on documentation, requirements, skills, etc
A business user can test based on knowledge, gut feeling and responsibility.
The end product is in my opinion more then the two halves.