Software Testers – Do we (As)sure Quality?

I am a Software Tester. But do/can I assure quality of the s/w that I test? For that matter, is it practically possible for a tester to assure quality of a product? Before going into much detail, I would like to quote some widely accepted definitions of Testing, Quality and Quality Assurance for the better understanding of these terms:

“Testing is questioning a Product in order to evaluate it” – James Bach

“Software Testing is a process of empirical, technical investigation of the product under test conducted to provide stakeholders with quality-related information.” – Dr. Cem Kaner

"Quality is value to some person". – Gerald M. Weinberg

“Quality assurance (QA) is the activity of providing evidence needed to establish confidence among all concerned, that quality-related activities are being performed effectively. All those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality. Quality Assurance is a part and consistent pair of quality management proving fact-based external confidence to customers and other stakeholders that a product meets needs, expectations, and other requirements. QA assures the existence and effectiveness of procedures that attempt to make sure - in advance - that the expected levels of quality will be reached.” – Wikipedia

I have seen testers/testing groups claiming to be the quality guardian of the project. They try to show/prove that testers are the only bunch of people who actually care for quality. Even they take pride in claiming themselves as part of the Quality Assurance team and ask for the power to block a release if the product quality is low! Actually we should not blame the testers here for this misconception. There are organizations that categorize testers into teams like Quality Assurance groups, Quality Controller groups blah blah blah…

But honestly speaking, I tend to get confused by this categorization. I don’t think that a tester has the ability, power or control to assure the quality of a product. Here are some questions for those testers who believe they are assuring quality of the product that they are testing:

a) Can you (the tester) measure quality of the product? If yes, how? [Please don’t show me those so-called quality metrics as proof; I don’t believe much in them as they can be easily faked!]
b) How can you justify that the product quality is too low and hence its release should be blocked? How do you measure the quality as “too low”, “medium” or even “high”? When someone says the quality of the product as “too low”, can you think of a context when the quality could have been “still lower”? When you say the quality is “good”, can you think of a scenario when it could have been “better”?
c) As a tester, do you have the authority to provide necessary training to the project team so as to assure a quality product?
d) Have you seen a tester with “hire and fire” authority?
e) Do you have the authority to take a decision on whether to fix a bug or not?
f) Do you have the authority to get more testers and more time for testing, for the test project, as and when required?
g) Are you ready to assume responsibility in case the product fails? [In cases, where the testers claim to assure the quality of the product and had blocked the release of the product due to it’s “low quality”! What if the product fails in its subsequent release?]

Hence, I don’t think that a tester can assure quality of a product. I believe in Dr. Cem Kaner’s saying:

“Whatever QA is, it's not testing.”

As testers we perform technical investigation of a product, to gather quality-related information. Our duty is to report a problem. We serve as technical advisors for the management. Testers gather useful information, which might assist the management in taking an important project-related decision. But we DON’T ensure quality. Quality of the product is something, which is entirely out of our control. We might prove that a product doesn’t work! But can we prove that a product does work perfectly? A product might be working as per its specifications. But that does not necessarily make it a high quality product! Quality is a relative term and is multi dimensional. Think of a video game that is too robust and rock solid in its architecture! But if it fails to entertain the user playing it, will you still call it a high quality product? Think over it.

Happy Testing…

Share on Google Plus

About Debasis Pradhan

Debasis has over a decade worth of exclusive experience in the field of Software Quality Assurance, Software Development and Testing. He writes here to share some of his interesting experiences with fellow testers.