Over the last two days, I’ve published the premises of the Rapid Software Testing classes and methodology, as developed by James Bach and me. The first set addresses the nature of Rapid Testing’s engagement with software development—an ambitious activity, performed by fallible humans for other fallible humans, under conditions of uncertainty and time pressure. The second set addresses the nature of testing as an investigative activity focused on understanding the product and discovering problems that threaten its value. Today I present the last three premises, which deal with our relationship to our clients and to quality.

6. We commit to performing credible, cost-effective testing, and we will inform our clients of anything that threatens that commitment. Rapid Testing seeks the fastest, least expensive testing that completely fulfills the mission of testing. We should not suggest million dollar testing when ten dollar testing will do the job. It’s not enough that we test well; we must test well given the limitations of the project. Furthermore, when we are under constraints that may prevent us from doing a good job, testers must work with the client to resolve those problems. Whatever we do, we must be ready to justify and explain it.

7. We will not knowingly or negligently mislead our clients and colleagues. This ethical premise drives a lot of the structure of Rapid Software Testing. Testers are frequently the target of well-meaning but unreasonable or ignorant requests by their clients. We may be asked to suppress bad news, to create test documentation that we have no intention of using, or to produce invalid metrics to measure progress. We must politely but firmly resist such requests unless, in our judgment, they serve the better interests of our clients. At minimum we must advise our clients of the impact of any task or mode of working that prevents us from testing, or creates a false impression of the testing.

8. Testers accept responsibility for the quality of their work, although they cannot control the quality of the product. Testing requires many interlocking skills. Testing is an engineering activity requiring considerable design work to conceive and perform. Like many other highly cognitive jobs, such as investigative reporting, piloting an airplane, or programming, it is difficult for anyone not actually doing the work to supervise it effectively. Therefore, testers must not abdicate responsibility for the quality of their own work. By the same token, we cannot accept responsibility for the quality of the product itself, since it is not within our span of control. Only programmers and their management control that. Sometimes testing is called “QA.” If so, we choose to think of it as quality assistance (an idea due to Cem Kaner) or quality awareness, rather than quality assurance.

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