Impacts of the Organizational Model on Testing: Three Industrial Cases

Abstract

Quality problems in delivered software systems are causing huge costs to vendors and customers alike. Proper testing is crucial for removing defects and assuring the required reliability of software, but testing tends to be a weak spot in the development process. The problems of testing are often supposed to be mainly technical. However, in our three case studies, the organizational structure of the software engineering organization has shown very significant effects on the testing process and its results. We describe three different organizational models and compare their advantages and disadvantages for testing, according to empirical data.