How do you explain testing and it's importance to a non tester?

Hi All

How do you explain testing and it's importance to a non tester in a social encounter?

Thanks

Janesh

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Martin Lewis on April 7, 2011 at 12:19

I like this "Testing is the infinite process of comparing the invisible to the ambiguous so as to avoid the unthinkable happening to the anonymous" - James Bach, worth watching the google tech talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfVK_ubk8U @24:30 minutes. Really makes you think.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Janesh Chandika on April 7, 2011 at 12:21

Thanks Martin

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by TestSheepNZ on April 8, 2011 at 1:26

Imagine you're a head chef at a restaurant, and a panel of food critics has come in. You have a kitchen staff who range from the experienced to the newbie.

Every plate that gets sent out carries your reputation with it. Wouldn't you want to have it as inspected, checked and tasted as possible before it reaches your diners?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Matt B on April 8, 2011 at 7:56

Most of the people who ask me, although they don't work in IT, interact with software on a daily basis. Normally I just ask them if they have found a bug in any websites or software packages they use. I then explain that I help to prevent bugs like that making it into the finished product.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tal Eckstein on April 10, 2011 at 17:23

complete technophobes (e.g., my mom) usually don't ask too many questions - so I just say something like "I make sure everything works the way it should".

for people who do use computers but don't exactly understand what goes on behind the scenes, I usually give examples of bugs found in applications almost everybody uses - like facebook chat.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rob Gage on April 13, 2011 at 10:42

Always a struggle. I think that the best way to do it is to explain a context that is familiar to them. If they use internet banking as most do these days, thats a good subject as most people think they understand it.

I wrote a blog recently on this subject that may help try this

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Torsten J. Zelger on April 18, 2011 at 21:20

It's a hard job trying to explain non-testers (and managers) why we do (or want to do) things like we do, therefore I have switched over and started to draw cartoons about software testing at www.zelger.org

Everyone understands those pictures even if you don't know all the details.