Those who plan, execute, and analyze the system tests belong to the Test
Group. These people must be technically competent, analytically
inclined, and user-oriented. They must thoroughly understand the
customer and the Problem Specification. Some should have participated in
the original problem analysis. In addition to your own people, try to
include some experienced users in this group.
Try to instill an air of competition between the testers and the
programmers. The system testers are out to unearth problems. If they
find none, either your programmers are heroes or your testers are sloppy
or your system was extremely simple to build. You should expect
problems. Some of them may be due to errors, but many will be matters of
interpreting the Problem Specification or problems in ease of use of the
system. Some in the latter category may be the result of faulty user
documents rather than programming defects. Any problem is fair game. The
system testers must "think customer" and constantly approach
the system from the customer’s point of view.
Your testers should be encouraged to build their esprit de corps just
as you want your programmers to do. If you can get your testers to do
this, you will have established an asset with a value that may reach
well beyond your current project.
Testers and programmers have an adversarial relationship and some
managers have difficulty in dealing with it. As a manager, you need to
take care to see that competition between programmers and testers doesn’t
extend to a personal level.
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