Why Testers Miss A Bug

In my previous post, I mentioned about the case were testers are blamed due to missing a bug. However, just throwing the blame on testers without looking thoroughly at the reasons and causes behind missing those bugs is totally not fair. Sure there will be some cases where some constrains affecting testing team which result in missing bugs.

This case happened several times to our team. Unfortunately, the missed bugs only show after releasing software to customer. As a result, testing team will be blamed. This should not be the case since if we get a closer look on such missed bugs we will find that those bugs share some common causes. Among them are:

  • Not enough time is given for testing.
  • Testing environment does not mach customer environment.
  • Configuration management issues.
  • Deployment issues.
  • Not enough information about the released software.
  • Skill/experience of tester.

 From my point of view, team work and collaboration between team members can solve the issue. In addition, management support should be there. The most important thing is to admit that there is an issue and to resolve it.

In my next post, we will have a look on each cause and see how we can prevent it.

3 Comments

Bernard Homès

about 12 years ago

There are multiple reasons why testers can miss bugs: - For instance it might be because there was a quick fix just before release (that did not get regression tested). That's frequent too. If the testers are not requested to test, no need to blame them, but blame management for incorrect decisions. - if the test plan does not clearly states what will be tested and what will not be tested (refer to IEEE829:1998 standard for software test documentation), then the bug detected may be in areas the testers stated they were not going to test. As the test plan must be approved by management and customer, these are the persons to blame. You can - and should - blame the testers when they insert defect in the code. But that's usually the role of developpers, isn't it? it was nice meeting you in KL.

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Raynald Korchia

about 12 years ago

Testers are like fishermen, if they don't use the right net (i.e test technique) they can miss bugs even in areas included in the test plan, and in this case they share as well some responsibilities.

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Anwar Bosbool

about 12 years ago

Thanks Bernard Homès. It was nice to meet you too in KL.

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