As we have already seen in previous chapters, within the testing world there is a group of collaborators that are part of the quality assurance area, who are in charge of making sure that everything works correctly within the software life cycle. In this section we will focus on the question: Is the tester a builder or a destroyer?

In a way it is an observer and checker of errors or novelties that arise in the development or functionality that is being tested, which can be seen as responsible for the damage that they pointed out, as if they created the damage in the first place. Some testers who find bugs are perceived as criticizing the product or the author and it is also the case that some testers communicate in a way that aggravates this.

Such bugs are reported in a written document or deliverable format, to be reviewed by the developer of the program to be tested, which is why it is vitally important to be able to express oneself in a constructive and positive manner. Sometimes, testing is seen as a destructive activity, however, properly performed, testing is essential for product risk management, since that is what their job is all about, testing and dealing with the errors that the end customer may find, it is their job, to perform the correct tests to confirm that the development delivered is correct and not expect that these errors are then found in reality by the person or user in question.

It is not that the testers put the defects in the product, they simply bring to light the important information about the presence of the defects. An important psychological and social rule is that project teams must recognize the difference between doing harm, pointing out harm, and eliminating harm. It should be clear who is responsible for each task, and it should also be clear to the entire team that the testers are there to help achieve the best possible result.

“The first in-space demonstration that we’re going to do is in 2014 on the International Space Station (ISS). We are going to assemble a small prototype of the engine, to test it and fire it on the ISS, and verify the performance, reliability and ability to operate as we are predicting.”

Franklin Chang Díaz, NASA’s first Latin American astronaut and inventor of the VASIMR rocket engine.

Sources: [IEEE 1028] IEEE Standard 1028TM (1997) IEEE Standard for Software Revisions.