Ways To Justify The Cost Of Software Testing

It's interesting to observe the attitude of senior management towards the software testing teams requirements to purchase and implement software testing tools. Nobody ever seems to question the development team when they request development tools that they need to purchase to carry out their jobs effectively. After all it's usually easy to see the productivity of the development team increase when they implement the right tools. Whether that's automated build systems, desktop IDE applications, source code control tools, the development team can usually put forward a strong business case for the purchase and implementation of core development tools. The request to purchase and implement these types of tools is accepted without question.

Contrast that against the test teams request to implement software testing tools and the response always seems to be somewhat different. Spending a portion a projects budget on good testing tools always seems to be a much harder sell. Maybe that's because the benefits of such purchases are more difficult to quantify. For the development team they can quantify the benefits in terms of high productivity which translates in to more features in the finished product.

Contrast that against the test teams request to implement software testing tools and the response always seems to be somewhat different. Spending a portion a projects budget on good testing tools always seems to be a much harder sell. Maybe that's because the benefits of such purchases are more difficult to quantify. For the development team they can quantify the benefits in terms of high productivity which translates in to more features in the finished product.

Programs designed to conduct automated tests can often help improve quality but this is not an easy concept to quantify for people who do not fully understand the process. The more feedback the testers can get their hands on, the more effective they can be. It is sometimes helpful to focus on ways an automation program can save the company money and point out the specific benefits associated with those cost savings. The importance of conducting load tests on any product before it enters the distribution phase is something that most people can grasp. A company never wants to release a product before it is ready. Now there is a tangible reason to buy a tool that makes this process possible.

The alternative to using a specialized testing program is depending on end users to conduct a load test. It would take approximately 100 testers to test effectively. Specially designed software will be much more efficient and take much less time. No one is likely to think about getting 100 people to test load their application but it does illustrate the cost savings associated with purchasing a suitable program instead.