Taking Testing Seriously

CHAPTER 2Foundation

—By James Bach and Michael Bolton

The Meaning of Testing

Our idea of testing can be traced back to a quote from the great proto-scientist Robert Boyle, who in 1661 wrote, “Those wary testers, that like not to be cheated.”¹ He was probably referring to people who assess the quality of gold and silver. Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary uses that quote as the basis for its definition of “tester” as a person “whose business is to test the quality or condition of anything.” This predates the corresponding definition of the word “testing” in the OED by about 90 years.

In other words, “testers,” as people, came before “testing,” as a process. This suits us, because we define testing as something a person does. We see it as a fundamentally human, social, and technical activity (more on that below).

Our definition of testing encompasses humanity, cognition, curiosity, and science. Here it is:

Testing is the process of evaluating a product by learning about it through experiencing, exploring, and experimenting with it.

“Evaluate … by learning” is a critical part of this definition. By emphasizing learning, we mean to imply that any evidence gathered during testing is filtered and transformed by the tester, who then constructs a story about what happened and what it means. This process changes the tester, who is constantly becoming more experienced with the product and better able to interpret its behavior.

This learning process is easy to see when you are new ...