Software Testing Blog

Frequent readers of the uTest blog are by now aware that we’re big fans of James Whittaker – software testing expert, author and now one of Google’s top QA guys. Over the past few weeks, James has been writing a provocative series called the “Seven Plagues of Software Testing”. You can find it on his new blog.

As you’ll notice, only six of the plagues have been published thus far. The seventh and final software testing plague was intentionally omitted, as he is accepting submissions from his readers.

Before you send him your suggestions (we included an email address at the bottom of this post), here’s a few excerpts from some of the plagues he’s discussed so far:

The Plague of Blindness: “Software testing is much like game playing while blindfolded. We can’t see bugs; we can’t see coverage; we can’t see code changes. This information, so valuable to us as testers, is hidden in useless static reports. If someone outfitted us with an actual blindfold, we might not even notice.”

The Plague of Homelessness: “These are some number of bugs that simply cannot be found until the house is lived in and software is no different. It needs to be in the hands of real users doing real work with real data in real environments. Those bugs are as inaccessible to testers as nail pops and missing rebar are to home builders.”

The Plague of Boredom: “I think bored testers are missing something. I submit that it is only the tactical aspects of software testing that become boring over time and many turn to automation to cure this. Automation as a potion against the tedium of executing test cases and filing bugs reports is one thing, but automation is no replacement for the strategic aspects of the testing process and it is in this strategy that we find salvation from this plague.”

Have an idea for the seventh and final plague of software testing? If so, you can contact him here. Tell him uTest sent you.