Test Runs vs Testing a Document vs Testing in the Design Phase

'Tests prevent bugs.' -- from a tester's POV, if anything, running tests 'discovers' bugs/issues, they never prevent them from appearing :)


'Testing a document' however (i.e, reviewing a feature written-up to be developed) i find this to be a layer that can be done without. In the end, we should be testing the 'product' not the 'document.'

And testing the 'concept' during the design stage is actually a lot better than testing the document. Involving a tester to mentally 'mock-test' the concept does some good in the design phase, but there is still a pitfall -- whatever 'document' that comes out of that 'design-phase testing' will not be the basis of the actual test run approach.

why?

because once the 'design-concept' gets into 'code-form' and the devs did their unit tests based on the design-phase test, it is still the end-tester's job to test how the code fares out there in the wild: and the wild is simply too big to box into the 'design phase.' (i should know, i've been through it. :D )

That's why testers who test the product pre-publication always end up expanding the test-map, stretching assumptions, diving into seemingly unbelievable what-ifs... to really evaluate how the actual end product behaves.

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