When It comes to software, everyone would agree – The difference between a very good product and a poor one is “The Quality”. But still organization and people think, they can spend less money on software quality than on software development. Why?
Here are the most common myths of software testing world:
- Any developer can be a tester – most common mistake is to think that IF you know, how to build a product, you will also know, how to test it. It’s all about the mindset, attitude and how you see the product. It’s always be different for different roles.
- The developer always sees the happy path. Their focus is to ensure that software works.
- Whereas tester should & must have – break the code attitude. They should always think & try – How can I break the code? What could have gone wrong? Focus is more on negative functionality.
This is like a forward football player playing in defence. He can stand there and try his level best; but not supposed to be blamed for making mistakes and losing the game. And for not scoring goals either.
- Anyone can be a tester – another common mistake is – anyone (even a fresher with some technical knowledge) can plan and execute a test. They will not take much effort. Here people must understand – testing is not a freestyle activity. It has its own well-defined methodologies, frameworks, roles, responsibilities etc.We can think of a manual tester as a defensive midfielder (DM), who requires a great stamina, motivation and focus of tackling bugs and ensuring enough coverage. Automation engineer require both testing and development skills, very similar to full-back (FB) position in football. In modern football, their attacking role is as important as their ability to defend. So, it’s not a cake walk for everyone.
- QA Engineer are less skilled – in what sense. Both the roles have their own tools, skills etc. And we should not compare both using Java or any specific programming language.
- Who can’t code, can be a tester – another myth in software testing world, again relate to #2. In fact, testing includes coding too, like writing automation scripts, writing less or more complex SQL queries, data validation. In today’s DevOps environment, even tester is moving towards left, ensuring there is enough code and statement coverage in the place. Think of an organization or projects like space mission or medical equipment where even a single missed defect may cost millions of dollars.
- QAs are delaying the project - Really? I differ on this thinking. In-fact, in 90% project’s things keep getting piled up from previous phases and at the end, testing window gets shrink. Due to which QA team not only have to adjust their schedule but also stretch beyond regular working hours to ensure on time delivery with intact quality.
- Last but not the least is, we don’t understand the need of software testing – Can you imagine a football team playing with only attacking players. Or a cricket team playing with only batsman. Even if they score lot of goals/ runs, they will lose most of the games because of the poor defending/bowling. Same applies to software development & testing. You can have world class developer from Google or Microsoft, but if the product is not tested properly, the quality will be poor.
No matter what process you adopt, how many checks you put in place, it’s impossible to create a complex bug-free software from the beginning.
The final objective is to deliver a good quality product. This can be met only when there is a good QA team with right skills and well-defined objective (or target).
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