Keynote
The Future of Software Testing
Moore’s Law
states the rate of technological advances and complexity will double every 18
months with respect to minimum component cost. In the past 2 decades we have
witnessed huge technological leaps in personal computer capabilities while the
cost of these evolving complex systems has actually decreased.
Unfortunately, we can’t say the same thing about software development. To
add injury to insult, software maintenance provides little return on investment
and the costs of sustained engineering (predominantly testing costs) are
sky-rocketing. There are many reasons for the current situation, but let’s focus
attention on our discipline and ask ourselves; have there really been any
fundamental changes in software testing in the past 10 years that has had a
significant, positive impact in quality improvement and/or cost reduction?
Testing is the most challenging aspect of software development; and
the job is getting harder. To meet new challenges the role of the
tester must mature. Tomorrow’s testers will become highly competent
professionals capable of designing effective black box and white box
tests to more accurately assess quality, and perform in-depth
results analysis to help mitigate risk. This talk analyzes two case
studies conducted at Microsoft demonstrating the need for testers
with enriched skills such as formal knowledge of practical
techniques and greater technical understanding. It also discusses
the added value the new breed of testers provides an organization,
and specific changes we made at Microsoft to face our future
challenges in the highly competitive software industry.
