When you take a deep dive into the wondrous world of test policies, plans, strategies, approaches and charters, you encounter a lot of terminology and metrics that do not belong there: requirements coverage %, code coverage %, test execution %, number of open defects … Our ideas about when software is good enough are incorrect. Either we don’t reach the described quality level, or we put the software in production, no matter what. In short: our quality expectations are too high!
As testers, we’re always complaining about requirements and user stories. They’ve got to be SMART. But do we really want that? And what’s the impact on timing, budget and resources?
One thing is certain: our vision (as testers) on quality is different from the vision of most people. If we cannot change that, testing will remain to be seen as the main bottleneck in software development.