Why Does IT Management Ignore Testing?
I read an interesting blog post about testing and numbers that pretty much summed up what many of you have known for years. Testing is not treated by upper management as an equal at the table in the software development lifecycle. The author lists insufficient time resources allocated to testing; informal handling of fault reports; management "disbelief" in test results; and testing results treated lightly as indicators that testing is not treated with respect. So why is it that testing is sometime seen as a hindrance rather than an enabler of good software?
If you need more reasons why testing is almost ignored by some companies, “Rohits World” gives five more possible reasons: There might not be enough time to finish the project; not enough resources available to use; a combination of expertise issues (lack of tester training and knowledge of the application); no facility or no dedicated test machines where testers can test; and the fact that some team members might view the process as a waste of time. One could probably say that testing is doomed long before it gets a chance to start.
First, let’s establish that software testing is important. An article on the Examiner makes the point that “Software testing helps businesses in their day-to-day activities” by detecting bugs in the code and configuration of applications.
While it is nice to bring up the obvious reasons of why testing is only given lip service by upper management (and even developers), we should try to break that chain and keep this from happening. To do this we must make software testing easier, as an article from dbta.com mentions. The author discusses how you need to integrate testing into development, automate it, prioritize it by the developers on complex systems, educate developers on its role, and tie the cost of it against quality improvements. We also need to underscore the importance of training and developing people who are new to the field.
We know testing is important, and we know it is often compromised. So, how do we change the “culture” that so often ignores testing? For one answer, you can watch this short video from CMCrossroads that points out how the culture of testing began to evolve at Google.
Fast forward to November 2012—we get an update from the folks at Google and how the company’s culture has evolved.
Changing the culture and the misconceptions about software testing is vital to the future of the field. This change won’t be easy, however, because nothing worthwhile ever is.
How does your organization treat testing? Is it on the bright path or dark path?
