It should only contact the test team if they are unable to resolve
some customer problem and need to escalate it to a third level to determine if it is really a bug. See
???Support desk staff ??? in section 1.9.
The cost of Support is a major driver to getting money spent on testing. Unfortunately the advantage
of front-loading your costs shows up after the release and the time lag may push the advantage beyond
some decision-maker??™s horizon. See ???Time-discounting??? under section 9.7.1.
Support know a lot about how real users make mistakes. They can be a great source of help, advice,
and training. Some testers may enjoy a Support role and vice versa.
Story
upport is expensive. There was a Big Corporation which made Big Machines for banks at
a plant some distance from head office. The Big Machines didn??™t exactly work. The cost
of supporting them was more than the Big Corporation was getting in income.
The Big Corporation already had a Product Assurance and Support group. It did very little of
the former and far too much of the latter. It was controlled by Sales, which understood little of
Engineering and cared even less.
Engineering therefore set up its own test group called System Proving. It found a lot of bugs very
early. Suddenly it occurred to the Product Assurance and Support that if they didn??™t test a little
more they might find Awkward Questions being asked. So they started testing seriously and found
lots of bugs too.
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