´Good´ Organisational Reasons for ´Bad´ Software Testing: An Ethnographic Study of Testing in a Small Software Company

In this paper we report on an ethnographic study of a small software house to discuss the practical work of software testing. Through use of two rich descriptions, we discuss that ´rigour´ in systems integration testing necessarily has to be organisationally defined. Getting requirements ´right´, defining ´good´ test scenarios and ensuring ´proper´ test coverage are activities that need to be pragmatically achieved taking account of organisational realities and constraints such as: the dynamics of customer relationships; using limited effort in an effective way; timing software releases; and creating a market. We discuss how these organisational realities shape (1) requirements testing; (2) test coverage; (3) test automation; and (4) test scenario design.