Software testing is a process of executing a program to identify/detect bugs in a software program. The process involves testing a program to verify that it meets the set business standards and requirements. While it is true that software testing forms to be the most crucial step in ensuring the delivery of superb quality product, the process is also surrounded by a number of myths.
Although these myths may not directly impact the process of software testing, it is important to debunk these myths so that each member of a particular software development team is aware about its benefits and importance.
Read on as we debunk the 13 common myths that are associated with the process of software testing:
Myth #1: Testing is an expensive process
Reality: This holds true only in situations when it is tried that the cost of a particular product is reduced by avoiding this process. But, it is important to understand that saving the cost in such an inappropriate way can lead to higher cost later due to high maintenance or rectification costs. Moreover, it can also lead to the development of an improper product design, poor product performance, etc.
Myth #2: It is a time-consuming process
Reality: Testing a product during its development phase is never a time-consuming process. It rather, saves the time of entire team by early diagnosis and fixing the errors at earlier stages of development.
Myth #3: Testing is possible only on completely developed products
Reality: While this holds true that the process of testing depends on the product’s source code, but the testing team can always review its requirements as well as develop the test cases even without the developed code. Moreover, breaking the entire development cycle of a large product (iterative approach) can help in reducing the dependency of testing of the final product.
Myth #4: Complete Testing is Possible
Reality: Thinking that complete testing of a product is possible is a common misconception. This is because the testing team can test numerous paths during the software development life cycle but there can still remain certain aspects that can only be tested once the project is completed and deployed.
Myth #5: There are no bugs in a tested product.
Reality: There can never be a surety or guarantee that a particular software product is free from errors or bugs. This is because a software product is always at a risk of having some or the other form of errors even if it has been tested by an experienced tester with excellent testing skills.
Myth #6: Testers are to be blamed for missing bugs.
Reality: Even though it’s is true that an inappropriate testing strategy may result in missing out on bugs, it is unfair to put the entire blame on the testing team. Such mistakes commonly occur due to uncertain changes in time, cost and requirements of the team.
Myth #7: Quality of the product is the testing team’s responsibility
Reality: Ensuring optimum quality of the product is not entirely the testing team’s responsibility. The role of testers is to detect bugs and let the stakeholders know about them. It is, then, their responsibility to get those rectified and ensure that the product is not released in the market without fixing these errors.
Myth #8: Using test automation wherever possible helps reduce the testing time
Reality: It is undoubtedly true that test automation saves time but saying that it can be used at any stage of SDLC is incorrect. Test automation should be started only when the product has been tested manually and is stable. Using it even when the requirements keep on changing is not correct.
Myth #9: Testing a software product does not require expertise
Reality: While the professionals in the IT sector are well-aware about the intricacies involved in software testing, there are many others who believe testing to be an easy job. They believe that testing does not require any specialized skills and can be conducted even by a layman. It is important for them to think about the criticality of the situation when a software crashes and there is a need to identify bugs.
Myth #10: Testers only responsibility is to find bugs
Reality: Identifying the bugs is not the only responsibility of testers. As compared to the developers who are specific component experts, testers are the one who are aware about the overall functioning of the software, the way in which one module is dependent on the other, etc.
Myth #11: Developers do not test a product
Reality: It is untrue to say that developers are only responsible for writing the code. Testing the product is the testing team’s responsibility. As contrary to this belief, developers are the one who conduct unit and integration testing on the product and ensure that the product is able to deliver optimum performance before it is handed over to the testing team for thorough testing.
Myth #12: Software testing is a mundane job
Reality: This statement holds true only if a tester is performing his/her job incorrectly. In reality, software testing is an information gathering job that is done to find answers to such questions about the software that no one has ever asked. And to find the answers, software testers need to study, explore, observe and analyze the product thoroughly which, in turn, makes it an interesting job.
Myth #13: Software testing implies clicking randomly
Reality: Considering testing to be a job that involves clicking randomly on the UI and tracking the results generated in a document is not appropriate. This is because testing is actually a well-defined approach that is followed to identify all possible bugs in the program. And clicking randomly cannot identify the bugs and errors appropriately.
Conclusion
The method of software testing has moved on and we all live in an era of frequently changing technology. Rather than avoiding the process of testing, we should focus on the increasing complexity of the apps which can further generate errors within a software.