Testing to Improve Requirements - Mission Impossible?

Abstract

How is it possible that testing could help to make better requirements? If this sounds like "mission impossible" to you, you may be suffering under some myths or misconceptions about the relationship between requirements and testing. Requirements engineers, developers and testers all have a different mindset and this can result in misunderstandings about the relationship between them. Whether you use a traditional life cycle approach or a very iterative approach to development, both good requirements specifications and good testing practices are critical to success. In this presentation we outline the characteristics of a good relationship between requirements engineering and software testing. We then look at a number of myths or misconceptions about this relationship, for example that testing comes after a system has been developed, that testers use requirements but not vice versa, that you can't test without requirements, that testers don't actually need requirements (a tester's misconception) and others. We conclude with some tips for how to achieve better requirements through a better relationship with testing. It's not mission impossible - it's mission critical. Good requirements engineering produces better tests, and good test analysis produces better requirements