Topic: Software Testing and Quality

Testing increases the confidence in the quality of the software. A well-designed test will uncover defects if they are present and so, all the stake holders will be increasingly confident in the software and be able to assert that the overall level of risk of using the system has been reduced.

Quality: The degree to which a component, system or process meets specified requirements and/or user/customer needs and expectations.

It is very important that the project team, the customers and any other project stakeholders set and agree expectations of the software. To ensure quality of a software it is highly essential to understand what the customers understand by it and what their expectations are. Generally software developers and testers see it as - that the software meets its defined specification, is technically excellent and has few bugs in it - may not provide a quality solution to the targeted customers and end users of the software.

Quality View Points:

1. It is often measured by analyzing at the attributes of the product.
2. Quality is also measured in terms of fitness for use. Quality also has subjective aspects and not just quantitative aspects.
3. It is based on well defined processes, and also meeting defined requirements. It is measured by testing, inspection, and analysis of faults and failures.
4. This is also perceived in terms of expectation of value for money, affordability, and a value-based trade-off between time, effort and cost aspects. 5. It is also measured in terms of what we call as "Transcendent feelings" - this is about the feelings of an individual or group of individuals towards a product or a supplier.

Apart from understanding what quality feels and looks like to customers, users, and other stakeholders, it helps to have some quality attributes to measure quality against.