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Shailesh Rao on Quality Assurance

In this episode (number 219) of “Test Talks,” I was able to hear Shailesh Rao’s insight into having quality software. He compared it to a “paper-free office” or a “stress-free life,” both worthy goals, but are hard to achieve. They can be strived towards, but it is near impossible to get it 100%.

He brought up the issues that bad software can pose to potentially millions of users. Bad software can open the doors to hackers, who might be able to take down websites like Twitter or Reddit. Also, it might stop airlines from being able to function — an annoyance to most, but Mr. Rao asked, “what if there was time-sensitive and lifesaving medicine onboard?”

I found this podcast brought up some aspects that I had not thought of before when if comes to quality assurance. I suppose that I’ve thought about the various things he brought up, but as a consumer and never as a creator of the software.

A very thought-provoking topic brought up was the fickleness of consumers. They don’t have the patience to put up with a buggy app. They will move on to the next thing. It is easier than ever to launch a software project to a very wide audience, and it’s become apparent to me that it should be done right the first time around because customers don’t always give a product that flopped a second chance.

Another point brought up that will affect the way I think about testing and quality control is that you should test for all possibilities or you might not know the market you missed. People often say to themselves “it won’t happen to me,” and think their software will not be downloaded millions of times, but if they didn’t prepare for those conditions, they won’t get that chance.

The core message that was hammered home was that developers should have quality at every step. With as complicated software can be, it is extremely difficult to have it be truly bug-free, but it is possible, and we should always strive to be as close to it as we can.
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