Schools of Testing Revisited

Rahul Verma invited me to read several very well-compilled posts discussing various views on the 'schools' of testing. I previously expressed my personal views on the topic and in a comment on the EuroStar blog. Rahul researched multiple resources to produce a fine, unbiased series of several posts that discuss various viewpoints and opinions on the concept of 'schools' in software testing.

Bret Pettichord has spoken widely on this subject and he makes several very strong arguments in favor of the 'schools' concept. I respect Bret and his views because he is an intelligent guy and always open to discuss and consider differing views and opinions. Last February Bret sent me mail agreeing with my statement that "...isolating oneself, or a group of people, into one 'school' simply doesn't make much sense." He added that he considered himself a member of different schools depending on who he was communicating with at the time because the "same words mean different things in the different schools."

But, in my opinion this also illustrates part of the problem. Let's assume for a moment that we do recognize several 'schools' within the discipline of testing. If each 'school' defines 'acceptance testing' differently than we really don't have different 'schools' of thought united under a single discipline, we actually have several unique disciplines.

Anyway, I suggest you take some time to read Rahul's blog posts on the subject and reach your own conclusions and develop your own unique viewpoints on the topic.

BTW...I did see the completely unprofessional sniping by James Bach where he posted 2 identical comments stating "BJ Rollison is a fool" on 2 separate posts (including one post in which I am not even referenced). I guess when the well of logic and analytical reasoning dry up some people will resort to their unbridled emotions and simply hurl personal insults in a puerile attempt to prove their point.