“When the IT Security Manager quoted licensing costs as a reason to reject a request to install the evaluation version of HP QTP it got me thinking about the lack of understanding of Testing within an organisation. The Security Manager also asked what QTP was and whilst understanding that it was HP software he then proceeded to quote from the internet some drawbacks and disadvantages. Rhetorical question: I appreciate that QTP is ubiquitous in the testing world however shouldn’t someone fulfilling the role of Security Manager in an organisation with 150 IT Staff have come across it before? Real question: Part of the battle of immature testing functions is to raise their profile within an organisation which takes time and resource, which is scarce due to establishing processes and capacity. What stories of bureaucracy, obstacles and general lack of understanding of testing have you experienced and how did you overcome them?”
- Matt Colson on December 18, 2012
I’m going to cut Matt a bit of slack here, but this post represents just about everything that is wrong with how some people view testing at the moment. QTP being ubiquitous is a vendor’s rhetoric and people need to stop believing them hook line and sinker.
I have personally fought many times against adoption of automated testing tools, like QTP and RQM in to many organisations. Why? There are many reasons.
These tools are viewed as a “silver bullet”, they sells a promise of test automation that 90% of the world don’t realise. They have features and are priced in a way that causes long term strategic cancer in a testing organisation.
What do Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Ebay use? Not QTP !! Think about that, if the biggest software development organisations in the world don’t use them, why should you?
The last time I got a quote for one of these tools, just for interest, it worked out at more than $10K a year over three years, per installed client machine. The sort of automation that I do using open source tools with smart, intelligent testers, requires tools that cost $0.
When tools cost $0, you don’t need to build a business case, you just need to get them approved through a security review, and start getting things done and showing results.
You don’t need corporate approval to be a testing rock star, you just need to show results, and let them speak for themselves.
