Software Development Next Challenge – Human Factors In Software Testing
Andrew Brown
Expleo Group
The biggest problems in software development are not technical, but are human! Our industry knows this, yet we do very little with this knowledge. This eBook explores 10 major failings in software development and shows the Human factors in software testing that drive them.
It traces these human factors back into our evolutionary past, where they helped us survive. This paper then discusses how we can mitigate these human factors and thus eliminate the biggest and thorniest long-term problems in software development.
This eBook will discuss what software development world could look like in 2031. The industry faces many dilemmas if nothing changes. This includes the possibility of 1.20% of large software projects failing, software projects being delivered late or over budget with large packs of automated regression tests which will contain many low value tests.
Learn why the technical problems in software development and testing are always solved but the human aspect remains elusive. It will look at the kind of people who work in the software industry that are usually technically minded. Learn why everyone loves to solve a technical problem but when presented with a problem containing a technical part and a human part, we are rarely interested in the human part, and are often ill-equipped to deal with it.
Explore the most important tool is software testing; your mind. Andrew will look at the two problems when trying to use our mind to solve software problems. Firstly, our mind was developed to solve an entirely different set of problems than software development. Secondly, our mind evolved in a totally different environment from the one we face in our modern software setting.
Key Takeaways
- Explore how the Human Mind has developed and what this means for software testing
- Learn the biases that you can avoid in managing your workload
- Understand the human factors that Software Development and Testing problems
Check out other test management related resources in EuroSTAR Huddle.
About Me!
Dr. Andrew Brown is a principal consultant at Expleo. He leads an independent line of research into understanding why we humans make the mistakes that lead to software defects.He has 25 years’ experience in the software industry. Previous roles include Head of QA at HMV, Head of QA at a financial software house and a test manager in Japan.He holds a degree in Physics and Maths, an MBA from Warwick Business School and a doctorate from Imperial College.