I think the future of testing relies less on a sole focus on test execution and more on the ability to write tests in the language of the business domain, effectively tying together the role of business analyst and tester. I think that future also includes the ability of testers to instrument certain artifacts, like requirements documents, so that the requirements, acting as tests, can be converted to different formats, most notably automated tests. There’s a lot of contention out there around these ideas from “purist” testers: those who feel that these attempts provide a single-source test format is getting away from testing and more into development.

While I agree in part that this is putting some focus on development activities, I disagree that this gets away from testing. Effective testing, to me, is about putting testing where it will do the most good in the most responsible fashion. Sometimes that testing is finding new bugs, sometimes it’s providing confidence that bugs haven’t come back. Either way, testing is all about communication.