Date : 15 July 2009
Time : 10.00am
Venue : FCSIT Main Meeting Room
Distinguished Professor : Prof Dr Jasbir Dhaliwal
Title : An Analysis of the Impact of Testing within Agile and Lifecycle Development Methodologies

Abstract:-

Software testing is generally done within the contexts of two categories of development methodologies: the traditional systems development lifecycle and variations of a newer agile framework.  There has been little empirical evidence to-date as to how these impact the effectiveness of software testing. This research considers the impact of the use of agile methods, one-to-one matching between developers and testers, and the existence of a distinct corporate testing unit on dependent variables that represent impacts. These dependent variables include the levels of relational and task conflict between developers and testers, job satisfaction, and software quality. Our results suggest that the use of agile methods does not impact job satisfaction or software quality but does increase task conflict between developers and testers. One-to-one matching of developers and testers has positive impact on both job satisfaction and software quality. The existence of a dedicated organizational unit for software testing also has a positive impact on the quality of software developed.  These results need to be considered by software development organizations when making critical decisions pertaining to the selection of software development methodologies and the organizational roles for testing professionals.