On the testing maturity of software producing organizations

This paper presents data from a study of the current state of practice of software testing. Test managers from twelve different software organizations were interviewed. The interviews focused on the amount of resources spent on testing, how the testing is conducted, and the knowledge of the personnel in the test organizations. The data indicate that the overall test maturity is low. Test managers are aware of this but have trouble improving. One problem is that the organizations are commercially successful, suggesting that products must already be "good enough." Also, the current lack of structured testing in practice makes it difficult to quantify the current level of maturity and thereby articulate the potential gain from increasing testing maturity to upper management and developers.