Should testers approve releases, or just report on tests?

Posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Ernest Friedman-Hill
Published on 2013-07-01T14:55:30Z Indexed on 2013/07/01 16:28 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 354

Filed under:

testing

|

release-management

|

process

Does it make sense to give signoff authority to testers? Should a test team

Just test features, issues, etc, and simply report on a pass/fail basis, leaving it up to others to act on those results, or
Have authority to hold up releases themselves based on those results?

In other words, should testers be required to actually sign off on releases? The testing team I'm working with feels that they do, and we're having an issue with this because of "testing scope creep" -- the refusal to approve releases is sometimes based on issues explicitly not addressed by the release in question.

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about testing

Automated unit testing, integration testing or acceptance testing

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
TDD and unit testing seems to be the big rave at the moment. But it is really that useful compared to other forms of automated testing? Intuitively I would guess that automated integration testing is way more useful than unit testing. In my experience the most bugs seems to be in the interaction… >>> More
Modifying a HTML page to fix several "bugs" add a function to next/previous on a option dropdown

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
SOF, I've got a few problems plaguing me at the moment and am wondering if anyone could assist me with them. I'm trying to get Next Class | Previous Class to act as buttons so that when Next Class is clicked it will go to the next item in the dropdown list and for previous it would go to back one… >>> More
Automation testing tool for Regression testing of desktop application

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi I am working on a desktop application which uses Infragistic grids. We need to automate the regression tests for same. QTP alone does not support this, we need to buy new plug in for same which my company is not very much interested in. Do we have any open source tool for automating regression… >>> More
Oracle Functional Testing Suite Advanced Pack for Oracle EBS Now Available

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
There’s new news about automated testing of E-Business Suite using the Oracle Application Testing Suite, a.k.a, “OATS”. E-Business Suite Development is pleased to announce the availability of the new Oracle Functional Testing Suite Advanced Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite. The new pack, available… >>> More
Do You Know How OUM defines the four, basic types of business system testing performed on a project? Why not test your knowledge?

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
Testing is perhaps the most important process in the Oracle® Unified Method (OUM). That makes it all the more important for practitioners to have a common understanding of the various types of functional testing referenced in the method, and to use the proper terminology when communicating with each… >>> More

Related posts about release-management

Suggestions on bug lifecycle and release management

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Our group is currently analysing our procedures for managing formal software releases and integrating with a bug lifecycle. What bug lifecycle model do you use? And why? For example assume a that formal releases are generated for QA once per week. At what point do you mark bugs as resolved? When… >>> More
Release Management as Orchestra

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
I read an excellent, concise article (http://www.buildmeister.com/articles/software_release_management_best_practices) on the basics of release management practices. In the article, it states "Release Management is often likened to the conductor of an orchestra, with the individual changes to be implemented… >>> More
Information about Release Management in a Virtual Studio development environment

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Our software development team is growing very quickly. We have around 250 developers working on about 20 different projects. The majority of development is focused around Visual Studio. The release management procedure is getting a little strained now, with users competing for time and resources on… >>> More
SDLC/Deployment/Documentation ERP/framework that minimizes developer misery

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I was wondering if there are favorite SDLC/Deployment/Documentation/Versioning ERP/frameworks that work with popular SDLC methodologies, such as Agile, that minimize developer exposure to what most programmer hate to do most -- PAPERWORK ? Often, release management is extremely inefficient and there… >>> More
Need advice or pointers on Release Management Strategies

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I look after an internal web based (Java, JSP, Mediasurface, etc.) system that is in constant use (24/5). Users raise tickets for enhancements, bug fixes and other business changes. These issues are signed off individually and assigned to one of three or four developers. Once the issue is complete… >>> More