Given below are some of the
most common myths about software testing.
Reality : There is a saying, pay less for testing
during software development or pay more for maintenance or correction later.
Early testing saves both time and cost in many aspects, however reducing the
cost without testing may result in improper design of a software application
rendering the product useless.
Reality : During the SDLC phases, testing is
never a time-consuming process. However diagnosing and fixing the errors
identified during proper testing is a time-consuming but productive activity.
Reality : No doubt, testing depends on the source
code but reviewing requirements and developing test cases is independent from
the developed code. However iterative or incremental approach as a development
life cycle model may reduce the dependency of testing on the fully developed
software.
Reality : It becomes an issue when a client or
tester thinks that complete testing is possible. It is possible that all paths
have been tested by the team but occurrence of complete testing is never
possible. There might be some scenarios that are never executed by the test
team or the client during the software development life cycle and may be
executed once the project has been deployed.
Reality : This is a very common myth that the
clients, project managers, and the management team believes in. No one can
claim with absolute certainty that a software application is 100% bug-free even
if a tester with superb testing skills has tested the application.
Reality : It is not a correct approach to blame
testers for bugs that remain in the application even after testing has been
performed. This myth relates to Time, Cost, and Requirements changing
Constraints. However the test strategy may also result in bugs being missed by
the testing team.
Reality : It is a very common misinterpretation
that only testers or the testing team should be responsible for product quality.
Testers’ responsibilities include the identification of bugs to the
stakeholders and then it is their decision whether they will fix the bug or
release the software. Releasing the software at the time puts more pressure on
the testers, as they will be blamed for any error.
Reality : Yes, it is true that Test Automation
reduces the testing time, but it is not possible to start test automation at
any time during software development. Test automaton should be started when the
software has been manually tested and is stable to some extent. Moreover, test
automation can never be used if requirements keep changing.
Reality : People outside the IT industry think and
even believe that anyone can test a software and testing is not a creative job.
However testers know very well that this is a myth. Thinking alternative
scenarios, try to crash a software with the intent to explore potential bugs is
not possible for the person who developed it.
Reality : Finding bugs in a software is the task of
the testers, but at the same time, they are domain experts of the particular
software. Developers are only responsible for the specific component or area
that is assigned to them but testers understand the overall workings of the
software, what the dependencies are, and the impacts of one module on another
module.