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Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice. / Rooksby, John; Rouncefield, Mark; Sommerville, Iain.
In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Vol. 18, No. 5-6, 2009, p. 559-580.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Rooksby, J, Rouncefield, M & Sommerville, I 2009, 'Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice', Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 18, no. 5-6, pp. 559-580. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-009-9098-7

APA

Rooksby, J., Rouncefield, M., & Sommerville, I. (2009). Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 18(5-6), 559-580. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-009-9098-7

Vancouver

Rooksby J, Rouncefield M, Sommerville I. Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice. Computer Supported Cooperative Work. 2009;18(5-6):559-580. doi: 10.1007/s10606-009-9098-7

Author

Rooksby, John ; Rouncefield, Mark ; Sommerville, Iain. / Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice. In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work. 2009 ; Vol. 18, No. 5-6. pp. 559-580.

Bibtex

@article{d5ef166cd81a440896e0e0305a742d05,
title = "Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice",
abstract = "Testing is a key part of any systems engineering project. There is an extensive literature on testing, but very little that focuses on how testing is carried out in real-world circumstances. This is partly because current practices are often seen as unsophisticated and ineffective. We believe that by investigating and characterising the real-world work of testing we can help question why such {\textquoteleft}bad practices{\textquoteright} occur and how improvements might be made. We also argue that the testing literature is too focused on technological issues when many of the problems, and indeed strengths, have as much do with work and organisation. In this paper we use empirical examples from four systems engineering projects to demonstrate how and in what ways testing is a cooperative activity. In particular we demonstrate the ways in which testing is situated within organisational work and satisfices organisational and marketplace demands.",
keywords = "dependability, ethnography , ethnomethodology , organisational issues, software development, systems testing, work practices",
author = "John Rooksby and Mark Rouncefield and Iain Sommerville",
year = "2009",
doi = "10.1007/s10606-009-9098-7",
language = "English",
volume = "18",
pages = "559--580",
journal = "Computer Supported Cooperative Work",
issn = "0925-9724",
publisher = "Kluwer Academic Publishers",
number = "5-6",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Testing in the Wild: The Social and Organisational Dimensions of Real World Practice

AU - Rooksby, John

AU - Rouncefield, Mark

AU - Sommerville, Iain

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Testing is a key part of any systems engineering project. There is an extensive literature on testing, but very little that focuses on how testing is carried out in real-world circumstances. This is partly because current practices are often seen as unsophisticated and ineffective. We believe that by investigating and characterising the real-world work of testing we can help question why such ‘bad practices’ occur and how improvements might be made. We also argue that the testing literature is too focused on technological issues when many of the problems, and indeed strengths, have as much do with work and organisation. In this paper we use empirical examples from four systems engineering projects to demonstrate how and in what ways testing is a cooperative activity. In particular we demonstrate the ways in which testing is situated within organisational work and satisfices organisational and marketplace demands.

AB - Testing is a key part of any systems engineering project. There is an extensive literature on testing, but very little that focuses on how testing is carried out in real-world circumstances. This is partly because current practices are often seen as unsophisticated and ineffective. We believe that by investigating and characterising the real-world work of testing we can help question why such ‘bad practices’ occur and how improvements might be made. We also argue that the testing literature is too focused on technological issues when many of the problems, and indeed strengths, have as much do with work and organisation. In this paper we use empirical examples from four systems engineering projects to demonstrate how and in what ways testing is a cooperative activity. In particular we demonstrate the ways in which testing is situated within organisational work and satisfices organisational and marketplace demands.

KW - dependability

KW - ethnography

KW - ethnomethodology

KW - organisational issues

KW - software development

KW - systems testing

KW - work practices

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=73449126198&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10606-009-9098-7

DO - 10.1007/s10606-009-9098-7

M3 - Journal article

VL - 18

SP - 559

EP - 580

JO - Computer Supported Cooperative Work

JF - Computer Supported Cooperative Work

SN - 0925-9724

IS - 5-6

ER -