bugs

[David Burgun]

Hi Mark,

On 7 Apr 2006, at 04:11, Mark Wieder wrote:

> Garrett-
> As a QA engineer, I'd love to find some bug-free software someday.
> Doesn't exist. Bug-free is code-free. In reality, somebody has to make
> the hard decision with any piece of software about where to draw the
> line as far as which bugs *must* get fixed before this release ships
> and which can be punted until the next point release. The decision
> itself can be argued forwards and backwards, but that's a different
> issue from saying that software can't be shipped until *all* the bugs
> are out. I sometimes joke that my job in QA is to "prevent products
> from shipping", but the reality is that the inherent push-and-pull
> between QA and, well, everyone else, is aimed at reaching the decision
> point that results in the best possible product shipping *at that
> time*.

I think this really depends on how the company handles QA, there are  
two main ways I've seen in action:

1.  Have the programming department write a humungus application,  
then throw it over the fence to QA and ask them to test it and report  
on bugs.

2.  Have the QA department get in on the act right from day 1.

In my experience approach 1 results in more bugs and more work for  
everyone concerned.

Approach 2, results in much better software and much happier  
engineers. The idea is to have QA involved right from the start, at  
the design stage. QA's job here is to ensure that components (such as  
libraries etc.) are unit tested as they are written.

All the Best
Dave