Introduction

Both users and black-box testers approach software with apparently similar attitudes; however, they have fundamentally different goals. With this article I will try to expose some of my ideas about this dichotomy.

Users and Testers

When it comes to black-box software testing, there are two main differences between users and testers, in my opinion; the first one, maybe the most obvious, is that the user usually paid for the software, while the tester is paid to use (and break) it. This is very important, since all efforts should be done to make that the final user gets the best possible experience, and the smallest possible number of bugs. After all, the user is paying for the software, and she needs it to fulfill some business problem or some particular need, be it run a company, play a game or write a mail.

The tester uses the software with the sole objective of finding problems. The user tries to avoid them at all price. Continue reading →