In the course of crafting my contribution for Alexandra McPeak‘s follow-up article for CrossBrowserTesting.com / SmartBear Software‘s #WhyTestingMatters thread, “Expert Insight: Why Testing Matters“, I wrote the following article. Check out Alex’s first article, “Why Testing Matters“, as well for some current examples of quality challenges in the public eye.
There are so many attributes/factors that contribute to a software system or product being “of quality” that typically you have only the resources to make a few stand out. Those that are emphasized become competitive differentiators – and part of your brand.
Think of any industry. What is the one word or phrase that describes each name brand in that market space? Even if those words/phrases are not directly related to an attribute of quality; the lack of certain aspects of quality, competitively speaking, would not be tolerable for long by the brand’s reputation.
But, each of these companies must constantly make trade-offs and compromises in the fight to grow and maintain their market share. Faster and cheaper are continually at odds with quality; clamouring for sacrifices and shortcuts. Competition demands it.
Brands can take decades to work on their images, building up their reputations, and one poor decision that leads to unsatisfied customers and bad publicity can potentially lose it all – at least for a time.
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after
the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
So, how can your organization walk the precarious tight-rope of minimizing time-to-market and maximizing profits while delivering products that are still “good enough” for maintaining your image/reputation?
Testing
- Testing can serve as a trusted advisor and integrated investigator of quality within the organization.
- Testing can strengthen the focus on each prioritized facet of quality across every phase of each project.
- Testing can evaluate whether the ‘quality bar‘ required for each phase/release has been achieved.
- Testing can transform collected data into consumable information to help stakeholders make informed business decisions around quality – like when it is reasonable to release, or not.
You wouldn’t want your brand to become infamous for an unfortunate/faulty decision that could have been prevented by leveraging smarter testing, would you?
Testing matters because it provides critical information needed by your organization and your brand to make insightful business decisions related to your software product or system on the road to quality success.
In other words: Testing matters because quality matters.
For related reading:
- I Say “Quality”! You Say…?
- Testing as a Service? Testing is a Service
- Better Test Reporting – Data-Driven Storytelling
