Testing and Quality Beyond the Requirements and Code

Many organizations institute testing and quality improvement initiatives focused on testers, developers, and software managers. One stakeholder often ignored in these efforts is the user-your customer. To dramatically improve overall product quality, you must purposefully include the user in your testing efforts. Lanette Creamer illustrates this anecdotally with some important bugs missed, which would not be found even with 100% test and code coverage. Find new ways to collaborate with users and learn how to adopt a customer-based focus on integration and functionality. Explore ideas that will help you consciously “zoom out” to see important gaps in your test coverage. Learn specific techniques to help you and your team find bugs that lurk outside the requirements and beneath the code. By adding the user as a key element of your test strategy, you will improve overall quality and have a happier, more satisfied user at the same time.