IT serves as a means to attain the strategic targets of an organisation. Therefore, organisations invest more and more in the quality of their software and in the way in which they can attain further understanding on this subject. In this, testing is a very appropriate instrument. It assists better software and a quicker time-to market of the software products.

However, in practice the fact is that many organisations, as well as the individuals involved in testing, find it hard to realize the test process in the correct way. Often, a method is employed, but making the right choices is found difficult.

Indicating what the test process actually will deliver is considered to be difficult. Therefore, in many software-development projects, testing suffers from this and fails to show the added value it has potential for.

The added value of testing

Testing, provided it is carried out in a correct way, contributes in a positive way to the software-development project:

Testing contributes to better software Testing contributes to a quicker time-to-market of software products

In order to benefit optimally from the added value of testing, a different view on testing is required, a view that puts the result of the organization on the first place. Within result-driven testing, the business result constitutes the driving force between the activities of the tester and the arrangement of the test process.  

Result-driven testing means more than the application of a method. The method does not determine the success of a project, whereas the way in which the method is applied does. Result-driven testing, therefore, includes a number of aspects:

• result-driven attitude,
• good capability of the test profession,
• result-driven approach that supports the application of result-driven testing.