Beyond testing scripts and automating everything, a new approach to software testing is gaining traction in larger organizations. Proponents including Barclays, the world's fourth largest bank. Should your team listen?
Keith Klain is the head of the Global Test Center at Barclays Banks. He manages hundreds of software testers in United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Most large organizations that structure testing as a centralized function use something Klain calls "factory methods" to manage the work. Life in the test factory is an assembly line. A small group plans the work and a larger group executes these "test cases," adhering to detailed step-by-step directions.
What many people see as a strength of the factory is its precise repeatability. Klain and his team see that as a weakness. Humans following step-by-step scripts tend to ignore everything off-script, creating a sort of inattentional blindness. They lose what is known in chess as the ability to "see the whole board," then adjust to the situation in the moment.
