Quality-Does Testing have a Role?
Writing by Martyn Pyke on Monday, 19 of July, 2010 at 5:29 am
Quality is an attribute that is easily recognized, but not easily defined. When a company produces a product or provides a service, one of their aim would be to achieve good quality. They then hit with the problem of defining quality. In the end, it comes down to the fact that quality is just “What you like”.
Now, let us come to testing. Can quality be introduced through testing? In my opinion the answer is “Yes, but to a limited extent”. Testing of a partly finished product or service will only indicate that certain attributes are either right or wrong. This in itself gives some measure of quality which depends on analyzing the problem and rectifying it, thus improving quality. The issue comes when the artifact is fundamentally of poor quality. Quality is not something that can be tacked on at the end. It has to be built in right from the start with early integration of quality disciplines and approach more likely to provide a product of superior quality.
Focus should remain on quality and thought should be given to the users of the product or service – the customers. How are they going to use the product? What is going to delight them? How can the relevant features be built into the product so as to maximize customer satisfaction? By changing your viewpoint to coincide with that of the customer’s, you can get an entirely different (and valuable) perspective on quality.
Plan your development realistically, include quality objectives and build in contingency for unanticipated problems. Making testing an integral part of the project right from the start and revising the plan in case the outcome is not smooth will add greatly to the final result. A constant review needs to be done. As quality is so hard define, it becomes largely subjective with various views coming from all ends. It is also important to keep an eye on costs and stick with the actual purpose of the product.
Testing of the finished product is to be performed and this should be a matter of confirming that the right amount of quality has been built into the product and identifying and correcting any minor defects that may have crept because of the difference of opinion during the whole process.
Finally, testing can improve the quality of a product, but the major part of quality needs to be built into the product right from the start. Quality and the pursuit of excellence is a mindset, not a process and with the right attitude the chances of success can be easily maximized.
Category: Software Testing
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