Comment:     by Frits Bos 10/1/2008 Hi, Linda, I think we have beaten this one many times: QA as a closing activity never works because it is akin to throwing the problem over the fence. QA has to be an integral part of the development life cycle starting with the proper requirements that are QA focused: how do you know that a requirements has been satisfied should be implied by the specifications. While I am aware of the ad-hoc testing approaches it is a simple fact that for acceptance of a software product (say developed externally) you need to verify that what is asked for is what is implemented. My recommendation is for QA people to become more...Read On Author's Response: 10/2/2008     Always appreciate your insight, Frits. Funny how we seem to learn the same lessons over and over. I do think the "communicate" advice indicates we are starting to zero in on the true cause of many challenges.
	Comment:     by Robin Fleming 7/1/2008 Linda - you make some excellent points. I think anyone working in this field for any length of time has probably thought about leaving it permanently. Reasons might be due to a change in personnel, project/product direction changes or possibly a change with the company. However, I think the skills and aptitude are in our DNA and it's hard to find something else that satisfies as much. I believe the key is being honest with yourself and figuring out what companies/roles/projects work for you. For instance, if you are highly structured and process focused, you may struggle if you work on a high speed/risk project/product where the...Read On Author's Response: 10/2/2008     Thanks for such a thoughtful response, Robin. I agree that it is the intangibles that matter the most and everything else results from that.
	Comment:     by Uma maheswari 6/30/2008 Very nice article, which really echoes many of the people in the testing world. To add my point as I also mentioned in the survey comment, in most of the companies they really don't view the testing department as serious when it really comes to 'Go-No Go' decision. Ultimately, it is business whose voice will win. But ideally speaking there should be some amount of management support is needed for reflecting the ideas and implementing the same in the organization. Author's Response: 6/30/2008     You're right, Uma. It would be OK if the business makes the decision so long as the testers don't get criticized for poor quality.
	Comment:     by Natarajan Ramanathan 6/26/2008 What a wonderful article !!! Echoes my own thoughts. The testing team always has a minimum of a double whammy - increased scope served with not very pleasant surprises and the dessert being reduced time because the development team has delayed its delivery. The testing team is often told that they are the guardians of the quality of the product delivery but when it comes to recognizing the contribution... it is always in a pittance. Author's Response: 6/26/2008     Thanks, Natarajan, for agreeing - but I wish it wasn't so. Maybe through this survey we can discover some ways to improve process for everyone. We can hope, anyway.
	Comment:     by Stacy Regan 6/25/2008 I'll second the "don't work for a software company" opinion from Huw, but from a little different angle. I much prefer working for a company that doesn't sell the software itself, but rather services that use the in-house software. One example is stock market data provider I worked for, they had data storage, data feeds and a neat app for analyzing market data, but what they sold was actually the data. In the end the company was the main user of the software they produced and hence they were VERY interested in quality. Also it helps to come in when the product already exists and everybody realizes that they can't do it without a tester \ QA...Read On Author's Response: 6/26/2008     Good observation, Stacy - the closer you get to the actual customer, the greater the value of quality. As Ed below points out, users are the best barometers of product quality and the most likely to place a premium on it.
	Comment:     by Ed Weller 6/24/2008 Linda, Interesting column. I actually moved to test as I was bored in development, and used my test experience as a springboard to systems engineering. In 10+ years as a tester and test manager, I looked beyond the details of the product under test to the wider system issues, and encouraged my team of testers to do the same. It led to a high degree of respect among the developers. We measured success in terms of customer use, and tried to focus on objective measures that reflected customer experience. Along the way we rewarded both team performance (development and test) as well as individual performance. Delicate balance, but needed to...Read On Author's Response: 6/26/2008     Thanks, Ed. I love the focus on customer experience - at the end of the day, users are the only true arbiters of "quality". If you can, explain the measurement system you adopted in the sruvey comments - it sounds promising.
	Comment:     by jaideep khanduja 6/24/2008 Hi Linda, This seems to be the biggest frustrating point in one’s career when one of your best friends as a QA head had to compromise in the shape of bending the rules of reality to magically make schedule delays disappear and missing deliverables appear -- which not only she but nobody can't do. It is something like doing your job but not in your way but as a puppet. I am wondering if QA department exists – it shows that management is serious about the quality, then how she is not able to present the reality to the management in right manner in place of playing in other’s hands. And sorry to say but I don’t agree to your point no.Read On Author's Response: 6/24/2008     Thanks, Jaideep. In her case there is indeed a very substantial QA department but it was established by the previous CIO, so management commitment has perhaps lapsed under the new regime. As to disagreement to question #3 - fair enough, but does that mean you can't or shouldn't reward individuals or departments?
	Comment:     by Huw Peregrine-Young 6/24/2008 I've contributed to the survey - hope it helps. I'm a relative newcomer - only 9 years experience but in brief (summation of survey) DON'T WORK FOR A SOFTWARE COMPANY!!! I cannot stress that enough... IME being employed by a company to assess the quality of incoming products has been a massively more rewarding experience than being used as a tick box by a software house who seem to feel that having a "Test" function automatically increases their products' quality - I suspect it boils down to companies appreciate someone who tells them "don't buy/instal/use this product until A, B and C are dealt with" more than companies...Read On Author's Response: 6/24/2008     Hi Huw - interesting observation that software companies are worse. You may be right that the economics favor generating revenue over incurring expense, and so there is more pressure on QA to ship a product to sell and less to approve a product to buy. I never thought of it that way...
	Comment:     by Jim Hazen 6/23/2008 Linda, Me too, I haven't figured it all out either. I'm pushing 20+ years doing Software Testing and over the last few years have thought about changing out. Mainly due to frustration with alot of the things you talk about. But I have been lucky to work for some companies that do respect QA/Test. Unfortunatley 2 of them were bought out by a competitor and things went south from there. I guess I stick with the profession out of some sense of purpose/mission (as of late not sure what that is aside from paying the mortgage). I'll have to send you a longer email on this after I think about it more. Good article and...Read On Author's Response: 6/23/2008     Thanks, Jim. Nice to talk to a fellow traveler - please take the survey and I look forward to that email!

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