Shun the Experts .. Long Live the EXPERTS

Software testing has become a Bastard science . Put the testing experts in a room and u see them going for each others throats in a jiffy.

Experts have all the rights to have differences of opinion(after all “when compromises continue REVOLUTION stops) but i always hope it could be done in a more dignified manner and with humility. I am no expert nor have insights into what goes on in their minds but what i have seen is that the same experts who speak about creativity , freedom of expression et.c. behave in the most vile manner when their beliefs are questioned.

Some have become so confrontationist to any opposing views that their tone changes to a jingoistic one, not remembering at many times that there is a fine line between ‘proving your point’ and megalomania . There is a literally a a blood bath on every forum,group , blog , conference where these experts interact.

People who oppose semantics and terminology’s saying they make u narrow minded go on to propagate their own definitions and terminology’s.

They try to split the community into schools of thought(read the very interesting article by Bret on schools of testing :http://www.pnsqc.org/files/FourSchoolsofSoftwareTesting.pdf ).

In this game of one upmanship they manage to confuse the bystanders and force them to align themselves to their school of thought. At many times we see its the commercial interests being propagated camouflaged as knowledge sharing.

As a bystander and a student of testing this has become repulsive.

Shouldn’t the EXPERTS(respected and self professed) be trying to confluence their ideas?
Do we need to split up into schools of thought?
Do we need to fight over the semantics?

If we look back into history a classical example might come from the schools of thought of the Indian Philosophy, where the schools( Sankhya, Yoga ,Nyaya , Vaisheshika ,Purva Mimamsa, Vedanta) having divergent views still existed besides each other in harmony. They seen as complementary and supplementary to each other and was not an either or not situation. We had the austerism of Mahavira and crass materialism of charvaka having healthy dialogue with each other and co-existing.

Long live the EXPERTS………

PodTech:TiEcon 2006: Dr. Shashi Tharoor,

Shashi Tharoor on Convergence , Entreprenuership …We love him at Perpetua[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2006/05/PID_000472/Podtech_TiEcon_051206_TiECon_Shashi_Tharoor_PodTech_Part_1_2006-05-12___home.mp3&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/610/tiecon-2006-convergence-is-more-than-a-high-tech-idea&totalTime=885000&breadcrumb=test.1198739360.64]

To be or Not to be: The big question in Testing Outsourcing

Outsourced testing or IV&V seems to the buzzword in the IT industry these days.
The lure of an estimated $13 billion global market for software testing seems to have lured almost every IT company worth its salt to give it a shot. We have all the major IT giants in India namely TCS, Infosys(IVS) , Wipro(Interops) , Satyam(QEdge) , CTS , HCL et.c and offcourse a plethora of specialized S/W testing companies like applabs, Relq, stag , thinksoft , puretesting et.c.As the business is booming as we the industry is excited about the $13 billion global testing market , customers looking for huge cost savings (AMR group survey project a 70% cost savings through offshored testing services) , we need to ponder over the impact of IV&V on s/w testing as a discipline. Its high time we asses the impact of these business models on the art , craft and science of S/W testing.Few of the issues i would like to raise here are :

Is the independent testing model affecting the partnership approach between the test team and the other stakeholders in s/w projects?? Are we not supposed to be hand – in – hand (If not hand in glove ) with the s/w developers??

Does this Independent testing render itself to the V-model or are Independent test teams getting involved only at the last stage??

Are there conflict of interests between the development vendors and test vendors?? How are the prejudices of these competitors affecting the deliverables???

Jose Fajardo in his article “Outsourcing Testing Tasks: A Competitive Advantage” speaks on the why and where of test outsourcing like : Plug-In for Temporary Assignments , Automation , Minimize Costs , Special Testing Requirements , Reliable and Independent Results , Help with Compressed Testing Schedules , Equipment, Facilities, Testing Tools, Environments et.cI would like your opinion / thoughts on these issue and would like you to raise new issues in this context.I would share my experiences in a large independent validation assignment for a fortune 5 customer ,who has more that 20 development vendors working for him in the next post.

Regards,
JP