Some in the agile community would suggest that "testing is a waste."
This position misses the critical success factor for projects:
- Risk identification process must be part of any credible project management framework.
- Testing provides information
- Information has value
- This information "retires risk"
Testing produces information, which adds value by retiring risk which is a non-recoverable sunk cost
- Testing is NOT a Waste
In the absence of risk management, the recognition that risks exist independent of the development method, and the very short sighted approach of not considering the end-to-end "systems" view of a project - testing will be seen as one of those Irreducible Complexities that will be jettisoned by those wanting us to believe we don't need some of the processes of project management.
Irreducible Complexity
The notion of a Irreducible Complexity has caught my mind share. I'm working on a white paper for a PM Journal on the idea that there is a minimum set of project management process. Go below that number and you're headed for trouble. Add more than that minimum and you may not get your money back.
More coming soon, as I sort our the concepts of the actually mealing of the Irreducible Complexity of Project Management.
