I seem to be seeing more and more comments about how tools are encouraging poor testing, or tools are discouraging good testing. 

There was a discussion on Twitter between James Bach and Simon Knight, which Simon blogged about here http://sjpknight.com/sbtmvsqc/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+stcfeedsbloggers+%28Testing+Feeds+-+Bloggers%29 about Session Based Test Management and Quality Center

There was a statement by someone on Twitter (can’t find the reference) that QTP encouraged poor testing. 

I spoke to a tester recently who complained that the tool he is forced to use means his testing is not as good as it could be.

Can I make one statement about all of this?  A tool does not determine what testing you do.  You, yes you, dear tester, determines what testing you do, NOT the tool.  And, before anyone thinks “the testing I do is determined by my Test Lead/Test Manager/Scrum Master/Project Manager/vendor tool/home grown tool/someone else”, please, please remember that you do the testing, if anyone or anything else is telling you what to do, you aren’t testing.

If you believe that testing is an intellectual activity whose success depends on how well you are thinking, how well you are learning as you test and how well you react to the results you get then the tool is irrelevant. 

I accept, and have seen, that you can do poor testing when using a tool.  Also, you can do poor testing if you do not have a tool. 

Accept then, that you can do good testing when using a tool.  Also accept that you can do good testing if you do not have a tool.

See!  A tool does not do the testing, a human being does. 

If, truly, a tool affects the quality of the testing, then I have to say that the fault is with the tester, not the tool. 

Would William Shakespeare, I wonder, have blamed the type of pen if he had written a bad play?