'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company

David Martin; John Rooksby; Mark Rouncefield; Ian Sommerville

doi:10.1109/ICSE.2007.1

'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company

David Martin, John Rooksby, Mark Rouncefield, Ian Sommerville

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

In this paper we report on an ethnographic study of a small software house to discuss the practical work of software testing. Through use of two rich descriptions, we discuss that 'rigour' in systems integration testing necessarily has to be organisationally defined Getting requirements 'right', defining 'good' test scenarios and ensuring 'proper' test coverage are activities that need to be pragmatically achieved taking account of organisational realities and constraints such as: the dynamics of customer relationships; using limited effort in an effective way; timing software releases; and creating a market. We discuss how these organisational realities shape (1) requirements testing; (2) test coverage; (3) test automation; and (4) test scenario design.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	ICSE 2007: 29th International Conference on Software Engineering, Proceedings
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	602-611
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Print)	978-0-7695-2828-1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2007.1
Publication status	Published - 2007
Event	29th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2007) - Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States Duration: 20 May 2007 → 26 May 2007

Publication series

Name	International Conference on Software Engineering
ISSN (Print)	0270-5257

Conference

Conference	29th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2007)
Country/Territory	United States
City	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Period	20/05/07 → 26/05/07

Access to Document

10.1109/ICSE.2007.1

PLATFORM: Social Analysis in Systems Eng: PLATFORM: Social analysis in Systems Engineering
Sommerville, I. (PI)
EPSRC
1/07/06 → 30/09/08
Project: Standard

Cite this

Martin, D., Rooksby, J., Rouncefield, M., & Sommerville, I. (2007). 'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company. In ICSE 2007: 29th International Conference on Software Engineering, Proceedings (pp. 602-611). (International Conference on Software Engineering ). IEEE Computer Society. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2007.1

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title = "'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company",

abstract = "In this paper we report on an ethnographic study of a small software house to discuss the practical work of software testing. Through use of two rich descriptions, we discuss that 'rigour' in systems integration testing necessarily has to be organisationally defined Getting requirements 'right', defining 'good' test scenarios and ensuring 'proper' test coverage are activities that need to be pragmatically achieved taking account of organisational realities and constraints such as: the dynamics of customer relationships; using limited effort in an effective way; timing software releases; and creating a market. We discuss how these organisational realities shape (1) requirements testing; (2) test coverage; (3) test automation; and (4) test scenario design.",

author = "David Martin and John Rooksby and Mark Rouncefield and Ian Sommerville",

year = "2007",

doi = "10.1109/ICSE.2007.1",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-0-7695-2828-1",

series = "International Conference on Software Engineering ",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",

pages = "602--611",

booktitle = "ICSE 2007: 29th International Conference on Software Engineering, Proceedings",

address = "United States",

note = "29th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2007) ; Conference date: 20-05-2007 Through 26-05-2007",

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Martin, D, Rooksby, J, Rouncefield, M & Sommerville, I 2007, 'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company. in ICSE 2007: 29th International Conference on Software Engineering, Proceedings. International Conference on Software Engineering , IEEE Computer Society, pp. 602-611, 29th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2007), Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 20/05/07. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2007.1

'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company. / Martin, David; Rooksby, John; Rouncefield, Mark et al.
ICSE 2007: 29th International Conference on Software Engineering, Proceedings. IEEE Computer Society, 2007. p. 602-611 (International Conference on Software Engineering ).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Martin D, Rooksby J, Rouncefield M, Sommerville I. 'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company. In ICSE 2007: 29th International Conference on Software Engineering, Proceedings. IEEE Computer Society. 2007. p. 602-611. (International Conference on Software Engineering ). doi: 10.1109/ICSE.2007.1

'Good' organisational reasons for 'bad' software testing: An ethnographic study of testing in a small software company

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

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Projects

PLATFORM: Social Analysis in Systems Eng: PLATFORM: Social analysis in Systems Engineering

Cite this