Effective Methods for Software Testing, Third Edition

Chapter 14. Software Development Methodologies

From a tester’s perspective, the software development methodology used significantly affects software testing. Suppose, for instance, that one could develop a continuum of software development methodologies from no methodology to a perfect methodology. The perfect methodology produces no defects, thus negating the need for testing. In contrast, with no methodology, one must exhaustively test to provide an opinion as to whether to place the software in operation.

The reliability of the software development process also depends significantly on whether the development team complies with the process. In many organizations, compliance with the process is not required. Those organizations use a system development methodology as a guideline, selecting those components the project staff wants to use and deleting those components they do not want to use. The benefits of using the system development methodology are significantly reduced when the methodologies are not complied with during development.

How Much Testing Is Enough?

This section covers the following six topics, each of which can affect the amount of testing required for software development:

• Methodology types

• Defining requirements

• Methodology maturity

• Project staff competency

• Project staff experience

• Configuration-management controls

This section explains why these six components affect the amount of testing required. Following this discussion, another section allows the tester to assess these ...