5. There is always someone who believes despite the evidence.
6. Test the tests before you use them.
7. Faking test results can be a way to social advancement ??” but destroys your reputation.
1.2 What Has This Got to Do With Software?
We build software. Software incorporates a lot of intelligence. So do children. We want to know if software
or children have absorbed knowledge and are likely to succeed in some future world. Our software flies
aircraft, helps us drive cars, and administers medicine. Since we would rather not be flown, driven, or
cured by an incompetent, we want to feel confident that our software is capable of behaving properly
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Manage Software Testing
under all circumstances. So we test it. Unfortunately, we occasionally make the mistake of believing that
the tests we devise will always predict something useful. Sometimes they don??™t.
1.3 If It Isn??™t Planned, It Won??™t Happen
Testing can only be managed successfully if management understands the processes of testing, the
reasoning behind those processes, the intermediate products,
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their limits, how to estimate them, and
how to recognize trouble early. For this reason this is not a book about how to write tests. If you need
to know about testing, buy several of the books in Appendix D. If you need a definition of test manager??™s
terms of reference, then see Appendix B. If you want to know how to manage testing, read on.
1.4 Let??™s Not Test
Testing is very expensive and its results are often embarrassing.
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