This is unlikely to convince us that we should buy it. We may remember that snow, and
rain sometimes fall, that the roads may be covered with ice, that a hundred-and-one mishaps may
befall us. We might write some more-rigorous test procedures involving icy roads, the Sahara
desert, flood water, and hurricane-force winds. Eventually it will occur to us that what we are
really trying to do is to prove that under some circumstance the car will not work.
This is the essence of testing. This is why testing is difficult. To be able to think of every
circumstance in which some system, be it a car, a database, or a can of beans, will not fulfill its
intended function, is an art that requires talent, numeracy, and imagination. That is why good
testers are intelligent pessimists.
1.9 The Players
In a large (30+ developers) company lots of people are involved in testing. In smaller companies the
roles may overlap (see Figure 1.3). Here??™s a brief guide:
1. Assessment and certification bodies who certify that your processes (and sometimes products)
meet one or more standards and that the system is safe. They need to see test results to be sure
the process is working.
2. Business analysts and tech writers write the specifications and know the system from the users??™
viewpoint. Make sure you give them feedback on the specifications and their testability in a timely
manner.
3. Configuration manager is in charge of managing the configurations and releases of all software
and hardware.
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