I heard a comment recently; it went something along the lines of “if they can’t deliver testing to us then they won’t be able to do anything”. Was I surprised to hear this coming from a senior test manager? Well actually no; I wasn’t surprised. It illustrates that even people with many years in senior testing posts can fail to understand what first class testing is, how different it is from run of the mill work and how complex and difficult it is to do first class testing well and at speed. This was not the first time I have come across this view and I doubt it will be the last.

Perhaps one day there will be a more general recognition of the downside of viewing testing as something that can always be done on the cheap and as one of the easiest things to give to the lowest bidder. Until that day it seems it will always be testing that is the first target for cost cutting. However I think I may have a very long wait for any change of attitude. After all if senior test managers hold the view that testing is far easier to do than development then what chance is there of a change in the wider development space; never mind in the views of finance and procurement teams.