Software development can never deliver the desired results if the product isn’t tested properly. Software testing have always been as important as development itself, but have been neglected by many organizations for years. There are many reasons why software testing was neglected, and one of them attributes to the many misconceptions surrounding the concept.
One common issue is when even software testers believe certain misconceptions that consequently impact the quality of testing as well as the time spent on testing. That said, here are the top 3 common myths associated with software testing that one should be aware of.
1. Testing raises costs
This is probably the most common misunderstanding about software testing, that even executives from different domains tend to believe. The misconception is that testing is a cost center. As like every business, their primary goal would be to reduce costs as much as possible.
On the contrary, software QA and testing can actually deliver great financial benefits both directly and indirectly provided they are done right. IBM’s Systems Sciences Institute’s research shed light on the fact that a software development company would have to at least 4 times more when addressing a software bug post the product’s release than they would had they identified the same bug during the development stage itself.
We should also consider the costs that’d be incurred due to the potential damage a defective software can cause. The failure may in turn tarnish the reputation of software testing companies as well. Software testing, when done right with the right set of quality testing tools can save the company from financial setbacks.
2. Legacy tools should be enough
Even when Agile methodology is being widely adopted by companies, the practice of using legacy tools for testing still seems to exist. A lot of businesses left the waterfall methodology behind, but not all of them replaced it with Agile. This means, many such companies are still neglecting the potential of agile software testing tools.
The legacy tools they resort to using now will possibly not be able to integrate with the Agile workflows. This can make things more complicated, leading to inefficient testing. Using the tools without adopting Agile would only result in low-quality testing in the present age. It’ll be hard for them to meet modern quality standards.
The optimal approach to testing today is to develop an Agile ecosystem, and use Agile development and testing tools. The team will then be able to focus more on the results, and deliver high-quality software in the end.
3. Testing is not that difficult
Software testers in general are not too fond of this particular misconception. The dominance of Agile led many enterprises to embrace the notion that everyone is a tester. This further wrongly suggested that the job of a tester has become less critical, and is seen more as a small part of a collective effort.
The fact of the matter is that in an Agile ecosystem, testers are just as important as developers. Though developers also get to contribute to testing, the heavy-lifting is still done by testers. Software testing today demands testers to make value judgments and critical decisions. They get to see the bigger picture from the beginning itself, and are expected to guide the Agile team towards the objective.
Conclusion
New technologies keep showing up out of the blue these days. Some bring new software testing tools and strategies along with them. This means testers will have to augment their skillsets to prepare for even more advanced testing, while organizations build teams and the ecosystem to facilitate effective development and testing. Testers will nevertheless play a bigger role than ever before in software development, with more responsibilities.
