At the 2015 Let’s Test conference in Stockholm, I took the stage at the opening of the conference to make a short, but significant statement. As a representative of eBay, I announced that we will not adopt ISO29119 and reject the notion that software testing can be standardised.

The announcement seems to have been warmly received. As I stated on stage, this statement stands to show organisations they have options. Just because someone claims something to be ‘a standard’, it does not follow that it is useful (or worse, not harmful) or that any notice should be taken of it. There are many existing criticisms of ISO29119 and I’ll not rehash them here. Suffice it to say that this should give pause to anyone who might have thought that this standard was in their interests.