Testers consistently ask how to show (or demonstrate, or prove, or calculate) that testing adds value.
Programmers, designers, and other builders create and add value by creating and building and improving the product. Testing does not add value to the product. And that’s fine.
Managers assure quality by helping programmers, designers, and others to obtain the resources they need, and by removing (or at least reducing) obstacles to their work. Testing does not assure quality. That’s fine too.
Testing does not add value to the product. You can test all you like and the product won’t get any better, nor will it get any worse. Similarly, weighing yourself will neither increase nor reduce your weight.
Based on what you read off the scale when you weigh yourself, you might choose some action to increase or decrease your weight. Based on the observations that we make and the problems that we find in testing, people might choose improve to the product in some way—or to live with the product they have. Testing itself adds no value to the product, though, and that’s fine.
Testing is the process of evaluating a product by learning about through experiencing, exploring and experimenting, which includes to some degree questioning, studying, modeling, observation, inference, investigation, critical thinking, risk analysis, etc. Testing helps us to learn the actual status of the product. Significantly, testing provides people with a means of determining whether there are problems in the product that threaten its value. By revealing problems in the product, and analysing those problems, testing can also help to cast light on problems in the project that can contribute to product problems.
In other words: testing doesn’t add value; it provides value. Testing helps people to understand the product they’ve got, to help them decide whether it’s the product they want. That can be valuable, since deep, accurate knowledge about the actual product, its actual status, and problems in it can have considerable value for the people who are building product and managing the project. Without testing—experiments on the product —our theories about the goodness of the product are not grounded in experience of the product. They’re only theories; or beliefs, or hopes, or wishes.
So don’t worry about whether testing is adding value. It isn’t, and that’s not a problem. Consider instead whether testing is providing value to people who need to know deeply about the product (and especially about problems and risks that threaten its value), and who need to make decisions about it. Consider critically (and self-critically) whether testing is providing valuable knowledge at reasonable speed and reasonable cost—and whether your clients would agree with your assessment. If it isn’t, or they wouldn’t, that’s a problem. Fix it.
Further reading:
There Is No ROI in Social Media Marketing (read this article, replacing “social media marketing” with “testing”)
How is the Testing Going?
Testers, Get Out of the Quality Assurance Business
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I disagree.
Though the conclusion is correct that the purpose of testing it to provide accurate information to stakeholders to make decisions and mitigate risks.
It does add value because without that information decision making is impaired which possibly impacts the value of the product.
Though I should add that not all testing will add value to a project, for example if it is done badly or if the volume/cost of testing is not proportionate to the potential for added value from risk mitigation.
PS// The difference between “adding” and “providing” value is quite tenuous.
“I should add that not all testing will add value to a project”
Quite so.
I trust that you understand that there is a difference between adding value to the product and providing something of value to the organization.
If you don’t, consider this. I test a product for of hours, and give reports on what I’ve found. Management evaluates the problems that I’ve reported on, and decides that they’re important, but not important enough to change the product. Instead, they decide to live with the problems in the product, and address customer issues via customer support. Have I provided something of value to the organization? We can agree: yes; absolutely. I’ve provided information that leads to a pragmatic management decision.
Let’s be clear: the product hasn’t changed. I haven’t modified the code; I haven’t changed the scope of the requirements; I haven’t altered the design. The product hasn’t changed at all. Have I added value to the product? If you want to answer Yes, I’ll need an explanation of how an unaltered product suddenly has more value than it had before.