8.7 > Write a scenario that could be used to help design tests for the wilderness weather station system.
Billy works for a wilderness weather station out in Lander, WY. He spends a lot of time at work because he often gets snowed in and has to spend the night. This gives him plenty of time to test the weather station software. First, he has to log onto the system using his weatherman username and password.
Billy usually first checks the status of the satellitle communcations (SatComm) and the regular communications (Commslink) link to ensure that the summary is being collected from up-to-date data. He then will request a weather data summary report from satellite communications and receive an acknowledgement of this request.
Billy knows the weather station will send him a report if it is unable to collect data via the Commslink and it will also acknowledge that he requested a report. Always alone and drinking coffee, Billy looks forward to receiving the summary report of the weather data to give him something to do on long snowy days at work.
8.10 > A common approach to system testing is to test the system until the testing budget is exhausted and then deliver the system to the customers. Discuss the ethics of this approach for systems that are delivered to external customers.
This is not a very ethical approach. Testing is time-intensive and often leads to changes in software as the tests reveal issues. The testing period should have plenty of time devoted to it to ensure that a customer is getting, if not a totally bug-free product, at least a product that has undergone extensive testing before it was deemed appropriate to receive money for. A testing budget should also be a little bit larger because of its importance to a project.
If a software company develops and delivers software to an external customer without putting in significant testing time, then how can the software company be sure that they will get that customer back? A company can only ensure returning customers if they have put the time and effort into making their product the best it can be for the requirements asked for and tested it effectively to the best of their abilities.