Growing Our Industry: Cultivating Testing

Although software testing is a relatively young discipline, immaturity is not the only reason we are still developing our methods, professional qualifications, trade associations, and its position in the software industry and society. All successful professions must continuously evolve and grow. For example, horticulture has been practiced for about 8,000 years longer than software testing. During those millennia, horticultural practices have continued to develop, supported by accidental discovery, increased scientific understanding, and improved technology. Horticulture has brought many benefits and, at the same time, dangers and environmental damage. Just like horticulture, software testing is a multi-discipline, science- and technology-driven industry with political, sociological, and economic implications. Isabel Evans, gardener and expert software tester, compares the two disciplines to see how commercial, legislative, and social concerns affect risk, working practices, and changing skills in the two industries dear to her heart.

• How good practices evolve over time
• Practices that can be beneficial and dangerous at the same time
• The risks of our actions in testing today