Failing forwards – the impact of testing mistakes

There is an old saying that states that “Mistakes are the stepping stones of growth, paving the way to wisdom and progress.” But how does this really apply to the testing industry?

•  What is a failure in software testing?

Taking into consideration the testing context, we can define a failure as the moment when a software is released in production and a defect which should have been discovered in the development or testing phase occurs and affects the product and its users. Here we can include a few categories as it follows:

1. functional bugs – where the software does not perform its intended function correctly.
2. interface bugs – when there are problems with the interaction between different modules, components or interfaces.
3. security bugs – these refer to vulnerabilities that can be exploited by external parties.

Along the mentioned ones there are multiple other defects with different severities that can occur and can impact the final user of the software application.

The testing of the software is necessary because humans are fallible.

Everyone can make mistakes; everyone can miss defects and in order to avoid these kinds of happenings we must test the software product.

What will happen if a final product will be full of bugs?

• First, the quality of the product is affected. Delivering a quality software application builds the users' confidence in it. Also, failing the testing over a software product can lead to high expenses into maintenance or fixes.
• Another, negative and harmful impact can be generated by the data loss. Taking into consideration the world we are living in; the data protection and storage is one of the most important categories of an application.

We can take as an example, a banking application and imagine that the personal data of a few thousand persons will be lost or leaked. This can lead to tremendous expenses for the company and even lawsuits.

That is why to minimize the impact of errors, it is important to perform rigorous testing. Additionally, user feedback and constant monitoring of the application can help identify and quickly resolve errors. 

We can continue with the example presented above.

What will happen to the tester that was responsible with finding the bugs of the application?

We can admit that he missed the issue which led to the data leak or loss, a defect of a major impact for the people affected: the client and the software company.

At a certain point of large scale impact, the issue might even be presented by the biggest news channels and keep the headlines for quite some time.

• First, we can assume that this failure will affect the tester's personal and professional reputation. Such a significant and widespread failure will raise questions regarding the tester’s competence. In the future, this will affect their future job prospects and advancement possibilities.

• A second impact can be the tester's confidence. The job of software tester is such that the testers often take pride in their job and in the importance of the applications they are part of. When such a big failure occurs, we can be sure that their confidence will be dented. This takes time to regain and rebuild.

• A third impact is test results credibility. A software tester's main duty is to ensure the quality and functionality of an application. If an issue report is missing or a misinterpretation of the issues occurs, then it is almost certain that the test results of a specific person will be doubted.

• A fourth impact can be that after the testing process has failed, the workload of the tester will be increased since additional work has to be done to investigate and address the issue properly This will also lead to additional costs and time increases.

• Finally, as it was said in the beginning, “Mistakes are the stepping stones of growth, paving the way to wisdom and progress”. 

The mistakes can be a learning opportunity. Usually, all the mistakes can be fixed, but the most important thing is that the tester will learn from it and will become better for the next time.

It is very important to take into consideration that a single failure does not define a software tester.

The testing process is more complex, and the failures are an inherent part of the software development process. A skilled tester will learn from their mistakes and will improve himself continuously. A veteran tester should also learn from other tester’s mistakes as well, as it is much better to learn to avoid making mistakes than to learn from their outcomes. A valuable part of any post-failure is the open and honest discussion with the whole team where mistakes are admitted, analyzed, categorized and exposed as warnings in a product’s guidelines.

Most companies are alive because of the client's trust in their product and/or mission. If the product presented to the market is a higher quality one and it satisfies the customer needs, it will survive and even thrive.

Of course, there is always a need for improvement, but the final user will know that a specific company will at the very least satisfy their need. The same behavior applies to the software companies as well. If the software delivered is a quality one that satisfies the user's needs, and is missing flaws and issues, the product will be purchased and used for a long time.

Taking these elements into consideration, we can imagine what will happen to the company, if a critical defect or defects will occur on a software already released on the market.

• The trust in the selling company will be lost or severely shaken. The users usually have their trust placed in a product that they are used to, and that they find reliable. If this product is a failure, it’s only a natural behavior that the customer will lose the trust in the company producing or selling it.

• If there is a failure in the software, the company might get financial losses. A defective product might lead to the customers abandoning the product or refusing to pay for this software which will lead to a decline in revenue. Also, allocating a team which will address, and fix defect software will increase the costs.

• Finally, defective software can lead to compliance and legal risks. We can imagine if the customer's data will be lost due to some defects, or if their personal information will be made public. The authorities might intervene to investigate the problem, the software product will be put on hold and the customers might file a lawsuit.

The user is the final part of a software application.

The purpose of the product is to serve the customer.

There are also a few downsides of a defective software which will impact the final user. Here we can mention the low or missing functionality.

The user is paying for a functional service, if the software will not deliver as intended, this will lead to the client spending its money on an unreliable product.

Also, a nonfunctional application can lead to user frustration, dissatisfaction and disappointment.

As we mentioned above, if a trusted company delivers a bad software product, the customer’s trust will be lost, and this will create a long term effect.

In conclusion, it is very important for every part involved in the creation of a software product to do its job and to do it thoroughly. Of course, each of us are only human, and therefore we are allowed some mistakes and surely we will inevitably make some even with our best efforts to avoid them. As such we are duty bound to learn from them when they happen, learn how to not just fix defects but also how to avoid them.

Our mission must be, that in the end, when the final customer will get in touch with our work, to have the best experience of their life.