Jim Hazen - Testing Is Irrelevent, Shipping is Futile!
Jim Hazen - Testing Is Irrelevent, Shipping is Futile!
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March 15, 2006
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The Answer is 42, and other common sense things in software
For most people they know the meaning of the title of this entry. It comes from the Douglas Adams book "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", and is the answer for all things in the Universe. A bit confusing to say the least, or is it.
This is what is the catching point about software testing. The answer could very well be 42. Software is written by Homo Sapiens (okay some of us do qualify as Cro-Magnon's) and as such we are fallable and it means that software is going to be flawed. Hey, if it was perfect do you think I would have a job and be here writing this blather?!
Because of this we (the Tesitng community) exist and our job is to find the flaws in the system. Some people call this pessimistic, I like to think it being optimistic. I look forward to things going wrong. I have always been an inquisitive person and my natural tendencies to question things has given me the innate skills to do this line of work.
My educational background is in the sciences, specifically Zoology (pronounced zo-ology, not zoo-ology), and my core studies were in classes that dealt with identifiying things and running experiments (labs) to prove/disprove a hypothesis. Sound a little familiar? I used the Emperical Methodology, or better now known as Scientific Methodology to conduct my lab experiments. This involved researching the subject and gathering the requirements to perform the test, determining what my objective is (Hypothesis), designing my test and construction of the test environment, conducting the experiment, recording the actual results from the test, and writing up my findings and reporting on them. This should definitely sound familiar.
So what does this have to do with Software Testing, practically everything. For both Manual and Automated (Functional/Regression and Performance) testing we need to go through these steps/stages in order to do our work. But a lot of times we forget to do them diligently due to time pressures. This is what causes us to get into trouble. Now I'm not saying be dogmatic about it, but you need to follow the guidelines in order to be effective in your work. Process and Methodology are a good thing.
These are basic common sense things to do, and we need to do them. This leads into the saying of "using the KISS method, Keep It Simple Stupid!". Which is saying use a little bit of common sense, or you might get a nasty surprise.
Even when the answer is 42, or am I not making sense?
I'm trying to learn as much as I can and what better source than people that have been there, done that and bought the Dilbert T-shirt so keep on writing
As you can see from the WebLog title I am a bit sarcastic and cynical about this thing we call Software Testing. Over my years of experience in Software Development and Testing I have seen some very very Dilbert things happen.
Hopefully this Blog will be a good place for you to learn from some of the things I have experienced and allow you to be more effective in your efforts in Software Testing.
• March 15, 2006 - The Answer is 42, and other common sense things in software
For most people they know the meaning of the title of this entry. It comes from the Douglas Adams book "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", and is the answer for all things in the Universe. A bit confusing to say the least, or is it.
This is what is the catching point about software testing. The answer could very well be 42. Software is written by Homo Sapiens (okay some of us do qualify as Cro-Magnon's) and as such we are fallable and it means that software is going to be flawed. Hey, if it was perfect do you think I would have a job and be here writing this blather?!
Because of this we (the Tesitng community) exist and our job is to find the flaws in the system. Some people call this pessimistic, I like to think it being optimistic. I look forward to things going wrong. I have always been an inquisitive person and my natural tendencies to question things has given me the innate skills to do this line of work.
My educational background is in the sciences, specifically Zoology (pronounced zo-ology, not zoo-ology), and my core studies were in classes that dealt with identifiying things and running experiments (labs) to prove/disprove a hypothesis. Sound a little familiar? I used the Emperical Methodology, or better now known as Scientific Methodology to conduct my lab experiments. This involved researching the subject and gathering the requirements to perform the test, determining what my objective is (Hypothesis), designing my test and construction of the test environment, conducting the experiment, recording the actual results from the test, and writing up my findings and reporting on them. This should definitely sound familiar.
So what does this have to do with Software Testing, practically everything. For both Manual and Automated (Functional/Regression and Performance) testing we need to go through these steps/stages in order to do our work. But a lot of times we forget to do them diligently due to time pressures. This is what causes us to get into trouble. Now I'm not saying be dogmatic about it, but you need to follow the guidelines in order to be effective in your work. Process and Methodology are a good thing.
These are basic common sense things to do, and we need to do them. This leads into the saying of "using the KISS method, Keep It Simple Stupid!". Which is saying use a little bit of common sense, or you might get a nasty surprise.
Even when the answer is 42, or am I not making sense?
Jim
• March 15, 2006 - welcome aboard
I'm trying to learn as much as I can and what better source than people that have been there, done that and bought the Dilbert T-shirt so keep on writing