But DOES it?
One thing that has come to annoy me is when a bug is found and a developer does some work and then wants the bug retested. Inevitably (and I’m more guilty than most) the developer will say something like “Okay, try it again, it should work now.” Notice the use of the word “should”. That word just reeks of indecisiveness. Should it work? Or does it work? If you fixed it, then it just works. If you’re not sure, then do what needs to be done to make sure.
I do this so often, for some reason it just sounds very comfortable to say, but I’ve been trying to catch myself before I say it or write it in an email now.
Sachin Rao said,
Wrote on July 7, 2006 @ 5:24 am
Without tests?! I once worked on a project wherein the project manager actively discouraged writing tests of any sort.
End to end tests, verifying all the options, given half a day to fix a bug…. that line is the only thing you keep saying all day.
Just painful. My advice — find another job/project and test, test, test! Its not a panacea, but it definitely gives you more confidence.
ben said,
Wrote on July 7, 2006 @ 8:30 am
Sachin, I didn’t mean to say that we don’t test - we do, it’s more of just a phrase that gets used, but I just think it sounds bad
Jake Good said,
Wrote on July 11, 2006 @ 11:51 am
I totally agree with you… I often catch myself doing it as well… but I think it also stems from us not wanting to fully take responsibility or have them come back twice as hard if it doesn’t work.
It’s like a bad garauntee… It will probably work, just don’t come back crying if it doesn’t…
ben said,
Wrote on July 11, 2006 @ 1:32 pm
Jake, right on, its like we need to leave ourselves an “out” in case something extraordinary happens and things dont work