Isn’t it Time for a Standard Software Testing Terminology Glossary?

Yes the topic has been raised before. Perhaps a thousand times. But yet, in this crazy world of software testing we still seem to have to have the need for three or four different terms for every single testing type thing.

So yes! It is high time for widespread use of a Standard Software Testing Terminology Glossary.  But why?

If you get involved with software testing projects for long enough you’ll hear references to the terms Test Plan, Test Strategy, Test Manual, Test Case Manifesto. OK so I made the last one up, but I bet you someone out there is thinking about using that same phrase right now.

Automated Tester, Test Automation Analyst, Developer in Test. These are real job titles for practically the same role. Have a look at any job search database if you don’t believe me!

I actually had a lead developer on my team once who, for some reason decided that he didn’t want to use the word automated test script any more. He decided to conjure up a brand new phrase like “hands free” or “hands off” test case or something along those lines. (I actually quite liked that one)

And is it integration Testing, or is it Interface Testing? And what is integration testing anyway? Is it testing integrated modules? Is it testing the integration of one system with another? Or is it testing the interfaces between integrated modules or integrated systems? I’ve been in meetings where around half of the people in the room understood the phrase “integration” to mean “integration testing” whereas the other half took it as the activity of integrating systems. There was probably another small percentage in there who just didn’t have a clue what integration was. Oh yes that was the project manager. He didn’t care, just so long as whatever integration was, that it completed on time and to budget.

So where does all this ambiguity, fogginess and uncertainty leave us? If we’re not careful, it could leave us having to re-define testing glossaries or lexicons every time we begin a new project for the remainder of our testing careers. But what choices do we have?

Sing From the Same Hymn Book

Imagine you’re in church. Even if you’re not a Christian and even if you’re not religious at all, just imagine it… The priest says “Will the congregation now turn to hymn number 349 – The Lord is My Shepherd” The organist presses the keys, air blows out from the pipes followed by a blast of the first windy reverberating chord. Then magically, 540 people suddenly start singing the same words, using almost the same notes and mainly to the same tempo. It’s not really magic is it? There’s no psychic, spiritual link connecting the minds of each member of the flock to his / her neighbour. No – they’ve all got a copy of the same tattered, dogged eared book, all containing song after song, in the same order, which has been handed out to the parishioners every Sunday for decades. Most of the congregation don’t even need the hymn book any more. They’ve sung those songs so many times they can just belt them out with their hands clasped and their eyes closed.

This is what we need in software testing. A software testing hymn book, or bible, or official reference guide. The first job by the way would be to agree what to call this standardised glossary. Once that’s out of the way then a panel of international testers would convene at a Global Testing Experts Summit in Geneva or Cape Town or somewhere cool, to go through every software phrase from A-Z until we have just one name for every one testing “thing”

Evangelise the Word

The next job would be to recruit missionaries from testing communities from the major testing centres of excellence from around the circumference of the planet to spread the word. They’d need to go into the software houses, the clients’ headquarters, the data centres, in fact any IT establishment where testing takes place to cleanse the minds of all software project delivery teams, end users and all other stakeholders. To fill their minds with the true terms, the real one meaning, the atomic, succinct, unambiguous definition that leaves no doubt, no uncertainty and no question to what is meant by a software testing phrase.

Standard Software Testing Terminology Glossaries Available Today

You’re probably thinking but of course there’s no way that the above scenario will ever be realised. The world just isn’t that perfect. But hang on there, I can confirm that some really good work has already been done towards achieving such a goal by two well established and highly credible groups, The Testing Standards Working Party and ISTQB.

The Testing Standards Working Party are the group who produced the British Standards, BS 7925-1 Vocabulary of terms in software testing, and BS 7925-2 Software component testing, both of  which were published in August 1998. Today the group provides what they have decided to call The Living’ Glossary of Testing Terms. Although the glossary does not contain a description of every possible testing concept you would probably be required to discuss with your clients, it makes an excellent basis for starting a glossary tailored for the organisation you are connected to. The fact that it is a “living” document gives the user –  You – the opportunity to suggest amendments to glossary to the Party via feedback forms provided via their website.

Another outstanding effort has been made by ISTQB® (International Software Testing Qualifications Board), which is an organisation based on volunteer work by hundreds of international testing experts. This group is most well known for the “ISTQB® Certified Tester” scheme. These guys have produced a document entitled the Standard glossary of terms used in Software Testing. (current version). This glossary is more comprehensive than The Testing Standards Working Party’s “Living Glossary” and also represents what is probably seen as the de facto standard within the industry. To date, over 280,000 certifications have been issued to ISTQB students who in order to pass the exams enabling them to get their certificates are required to learn many of the phrases given by the ISTQB Glossary.

Conclusion

I myself have become one of the so-called missionaries I have described above. I’ve travelled from project to project with my Living Standardised Testing Terminology Glossary and my ISTQB® Glossary stored in my browser bookmarks. This helps me to replace the multiple and often inconsistent and in some cases non-existent glossaries found in a firm’s various test plans with a single link within my revised Test Strategy. This strategy along with the glossary it refers to can then be applied to all future test plans for that firm. There are always a handful of additional, company specific terms which I can just append to the strategy document when required.

Most recently, I’ve have mainly encouraged clients to adopt the ISTQB glossary. My reason for this doing so is simply because probably 10’s of 1000’s of testing professionals have sat the ISTQB exam. One can only infer that this is has now become the global Standardised Testing Terminology Glossary. It’s safe to say that this document is the Testing Hymn Book which can be used from project to project, firm to firm, country to country to bring clarity, understanding and harmony to all software testing discussions.

 

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One thought on “Isn’t it Time for a Standard Software Testing Terminology Glossary?

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  1. Good one. I agree..there are lot of terms floating around in Testing World.
    And yes Integration testing holds different meanings to different people.

    Same goes for SIT and Integration Testing.

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