Are You in QA? No. Am I a Soſtware Tester? Yes! have this question asked of me quite frequently. Somehow I will be involved in a discussion and something will come up about testing, and when I talk about it, a natural question to be asked is “oh, so you must be in Quality Assurance!” For years, I answered “yes”, but I don’t answer that way any longer. Now, when people comment that I must be in QA, I answer, “Am I a software tester? Yes!” For many of the people I talk to, the comment doesn’t just hang in the air; they notice the difference, and often they ask me about it? What do I have against QA? Why do I avoid saying those words, and why do I substitute the words “software testing” instead? The roots of this come from my further understanding of the dynamics and the created, and the environment in which it is built and where it runs. The term Quality Assurance stems from the idea that there should be quality standards. software exists in an unusual state that is never loaded with the same operating systems, and with as close as possible the same hardware, and we ran those two systems, with as close to identical certainty, say that the machines would behave identically. We could guarantee that the metal parts were stamped out to make the case with a high amount of precision, but the sustaining of the electronic states of an operating system will be different on each computer. The vagaries and differences in the speed of ram, the speed of the hard disk, the length of the cables used inside the chassis, the power load at that given moment, and any programs installed and activated on the system will make for a different experience. This is a key reason why I have come to view software “quality assurance” as a misnomer. Metaphorically, installing and testing software is less like building a house on a concrete foundation, but more like extend the metaphor, building it on the lake instead The reasons run even deeper than this however. With Quality Assurance, there is both an expectation and an understanding that we can what Assurance means. I assure that this product has a level of quality. For most of us that work in this space, that is not likely, nor is it really even feasible. To assure software quality, we would need to have the ability to make changes to the system, to “retool the line” so to speak, so that we can make sure that the system is doing exactly what it was This also stems from the factories in which items are made. Whether they are made of wood, plastic or metal, factories have a vested interest in their parts being designed to have few defects or broken pieces. The idea of quality assurance grew out of the factories and assembly lines looking to guarantee, as much as possible, the parts that were talking about a drill press, and the ability to make for equally distributed holes into a piece of sheet metal, having the ability to guarantee that process works consistently is realistic. It’s a very stable process, and something that can be assured (or as The metaphor of a factory and an assembly line feels natural when we talk about software. Functions plug together, modules can be connected to make larger programs, and numerous “moving product. The similarity, however, ends here. Unlike a drill press or a metal stamping machine,
I have this question asked of me quite frequently. Somehow I will be involved in a discussion and something will come up about testing, and when I talk about it, a natural question to be asked is “oh, so you must be in Quality Assurance!” For years, I answered “yes”, but I don’t answer that way any longer. Now, when people comment that I must be in QA, I answer, “Am I a software tester? Yes!”
For many of the people I talk to, the comment doesn’t just hang in the air; they notice the difference, and often they ask me about it? What do I have against QA? Why do I avoid saying those words, and why do I substitute the words “software testing” instead?
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Transcript
Are You in QA? No. Am I a So�ware Tester? Yes!
� � � � � � � � � � � � �have this question asked of me quite frequently.
Somehow I will be involved in a discussion and
something will come up about testing, and when I
talk about it, a natural question to be asked is “oh,
so you must be in Quality Assurance!” For years,
I answered “yes”, but I don’t answer that way any
longer. Now, when people comment that I must be
in QA, I answer, “Am I a software tester? Yes!”
For many of the people I talk to, the
comment doesn’t just hang in the air; they notice
the difference, and often they ask me about it? What
do I have against QA? Why do I avoid saying those
words, and why do I substitute the words “software
testing” instead?
The roots of this come from my
further understanding of the dynamics and the
created, and the environment in which it is built and
where it runs. The term Quality Assurance stems
from the idea that there should be quality standards.
software exists in an unusual state that is never
loaded with the same operating systems, and with
as close as possible the same hardware, and we
ran those two systems, with as close to identical
certainty, say that the machines would behave
identically. We could guarantee that the metal
parts were stamped out to make the case with a
high amount of precision, but the sustaining of
the electronic states of an operating system will
be different on each computer. The vagaries and
differences in the speed of ram, the speed of the
hard disk, the length of the cables used inside the
chassis, the power load at that given moment,
and any programs installed and activated on the
system will make for a different experience. This
is a key reason why I have come to view software
“quality assurance” as a misnomer. Metaphorically,
installing and testing software is less like building
a house on a concrete foundation, but more like
extend the metaphor, building it on the lake instead
The reasons run even deeper than this
however. With Quality Assurance, there is both
an expectation and an understanding that we can
what Assurance means. I assure that this product
has a level of quality. For most of us that work in
this space, that is not likely, nor is it really even
feasible. To assure software quality, we would need
to have the ability to make changes to the system,
to “retool the line” so to speak, so that we can make
sure that the system is doing exactly what it was
This also stems from the factories in which items
are made. Whether they are made of wood, plastic
or metal, factories have a vested interest in their
parts being designed to have few defects or broken
pieces. The idea of quality assurance grew out
of the factories and assembly lines looking to
guarantee, as much as possible, the parts that were
talking about a drill press, and the ability to make
for equally distributed holes into a piece of sheet
metal, having the ability to guarantee that process
works consistently is realistic. It’s a very stable