Sometimes you’ll hear testers talk about how they “test for quality.” My problem with that phrase is that it’s a potentially dangerous one. It’s an even more dangerous expectation unless some ideas of what the phrase actually means are sorted out. Once you have an idea of what “test for quality” actually means, maybe you can craft intelligent processes around the phrase.

If you’re going to do that, make sure you know why you test and make sure you have some idea of what quality means. Without some thinking around those two areas, “testing for quality” is nothing more than something you say to make managers feel good.