ISO29119

At CAST 2014 James Christie gave a presentation called: “Standards – Promoting quality or restricting competition?“.  James argued that standards are produced by bodies with a commercial interest in seeing them adopted. He analysed the economic forces behind the creation of standards. They should be viewed as optional methods that companies can buy or reject as they see fit. Selling them as standards distorts the market by creating the impression amongst senior managers, lawyers and regulators that there is no valid, responsible alternative. James explained why the auditors and compliance professions are not lined up on the side of the standards lobby. Testers must speak out following the Healthcare.gov website fiasco. This debate is not an academic contest between rival schools of thought. It’s a commercial struggle, and James provided compelling arguments against standards.

During open season Karen Johnson showed a red card and suggested that people should DO something. She argued since it was the start of the conference and many of the attendees seemed to be against certifications and standards that perhaps they could “do something” that would make an impact.

This resulted in two initiatives: a petition made by ISST (International Society for Software Testing (*) and a professional Tester’s manifesto made by Karen (helped by Iain McCowatt, Fiona Charles and James Christie). During the conference both James and Karen where interviewed by CAST Live. You can find those interviews in the video section below.

(*) Update 24/9/2019: The ISST was founded to advocate for more common sense in testing (see founding message here, but doesn’t exist anymore. The website http://www.commonsensetesting.org/ is bought by another agent and has unrelated stuff on it now). Also: for a while there was a website http://professionaltestersmanifesto.org/ but this website is gone too. You can find the manifesto, which I think is still important, here: professional Tester’s manifesto.

This kicked off a whole lot of blog posts from testers around the world. This page shows a collection of all these blog posts. Please let me know if I missed one.

Petition and manifesto

• The STOP ISO 29119 petition
• Professional Tester’s Manifesto

The standard

• ISO / ICE / IEEE 29119 Software Testing
• Part 1 – Concepts & Definitions
• Part 2 – Test Processes
• Part 3 – Test Documentation
• Part 4 – Test Techniques
• Part 5 – Keyword-Driven Testing
• The standard explained: The Art of Software Testing Standards – Jon Hagar
• White paper: The New International Software Testing Standards – Stuart Reid

Wanna know who are writing this standard? Read this: Dramatis Personae – Michael Bolton

Blogs supporting the petition

• Q&A: Why testing guru James Bach is against the ISO 29119 testing standard – Part 1
• Open Letter to ISO – ISST
• ISO 29119: Why it is Dangerous to the Software Testing Community – James Christie
• “Software testers balk at ISO 29119 standards proposal” – my Infoworld.com interview – James Christie
• ISO – the dog that hasn’t barked – James Christie
• Cynefin, testing & auditing – James Christie
• ISO 29119 and “best practice”; a confused mess – James Christie
• ISO 29119 Roundtable Discussion – Part I – Part 2 – Part 3
• My Thoughts on Testing Certifications – Karen Johnson
• The Petition to Stop ISO 29119 – Keith Klain
• Please sign the Petition to Stop ISO 29119 – Cem Kaner
• How Not To Standardize Testing (ISO 29119) – James Bach
• Rising Against the Rent-Seekers – Michael Bolton
• An Example of Progress in the Drafting of ISO 29119 – Michael Bolton
• Frequently-Asked Questions About the 29119 Controversy – Michael Bolton
• A Response to Anne Mette Hass – Michael Bolton
• Why I oppose adoption of ISO 29119 – Fiona Charles
• On ISO 29119 Content – Rikard Edgren
• ISO 29119 Questions: Part 1 – Part 2 – Simon Morley
• An open letter to the President of the International Organization for Standardization about ISO 29119 – Pradeep Soundararajan
• Petition to stop ISO 29119 – House Of Test
• Petition to Stop ISO 29119 – Pretty Good Testing
• Test Insane Joins The Movement To Stop ISO 29119 – Test Insane
• In Defence of Book Burning – Adam Howard
• Forming a resistance against ISO 29119 – Neil Studd
• Standard. Or Not. – Rob Lambert
• Stop ISO 29119 – Tim Hall
• Why Testers Are Losing The ISO 29119 Battle – Gil Zilberfeld
• Stop 29119 – Iain McCowatt
• Joining the fray on ISO 29119 – Joep Schuurkes
• I am a professional tester – are you? – Maria Kedemo
• The ISO 29119 Debate – Simon Knight (ministry of testing)
• ISO 29119: What you should know about software testing standards – Justin Rohrman
• On Auditing, Standards, And Iso 29119 – Markus Gärtner
• ISO 29119 one standard to rule them all? – Scott Dickie
• Software Testing Standardization: Why you should be afraid – Josh Meier
• Why standards don’t help Software World – Majd Uddin
• Please sign the Petition to Stop ISO 29119 –  Chris Kenst
• Why I am signing the petition to stop ISO 29119 – Amy
• ISO 29119 is dead in the water – Ben Klaasen
• Software testing standards – Milin Patel
• Have you signed the petition to stop ISO 29119? – Qxf2
• The ISO29119 debate – Huib Schoots
• Current ISO #stop29119 & Petition – Oliver Erlewein
• Pieces of paper don’t change reality … Stop 29119 – Mike Talks
• Alice and the Cheshire Cat talk ISO 29119 – Mike Talks
• ISO 29119 – A Review – Chi Lieu
• ISO 29119 – A standard in name only – Brian Osman
• How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love ISO 29119 – Matt Heusser
• Do we have something else than ISO29119? – Simon “Peter” Schrijver
• ISO 29119 Debate – A Historical Perspective Part 1 – Nick Welter
• The Schneider Trophy  – Jokin Aspiazu
• The Weasel Returns – Alan Page
• ISO 29119 – Testers! Don’t Buy Into It! – Jeff Nymann
• Vet du vad du tycker om ISO 29119? (Swedish) –  David Högberg
• Defending Against Standards and Certification – Eric Proegler
• ISO29119 – And its possible future – Björn Petersson
• The Procrustean Bed of ISO29119 – Ash Winters
• Can’t we all just get along ? A fable on ISO 29119 – Laurent Bossavit
• What does the audit profession have to say about testing standards? – James Christie
• A commercial body of Knowledge – Jesper Ottosen
• The little debate that couldn’t – Benjamin Kelly
• In consideration of ISO 29119 – JCD
• Arguments to Moderation – Eric Proegler
• Lessons Learned on Standardisation at a Finnish Standards Meeting – Maaret Pyhäjärvi

“Anti” petition & pro ISO29119

• Response to Stop 29119 Petition – Stuart Reid
• Book burners threaten (old) new testing standard – Professional Tester
• Why I have troubles signing Stop #ISO29119 – Bernard Burger
• Eine reichlich späte Petition gegen Teststandard ISO 29119 (German) – Alexander Neumann
• Open Letter to the Testing Community (re: ISO 29119 conflict) – Freddy Vega
• ISO 29119 – Useful or Not? Can’t We All Just Get Along? – XBoSoft
• ISO 29119: Red tape or finish line tape – Menonrajendra
• New Software Testing Standards – ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 – Jagannadha Swamy Tata

Undecided:

• Why I Did Not Sign the Petition – Jeff Lucas
• What is an Appropriate Software Testing Standard? – Jeff Lucas
• Sad but true – Nathalie Rooseboom de Vries van Delft
• Aangenaam kennis te maken: ISO29119 (Dutch) – Nathalie Rooseboom de Vries van Delft

Reactions to “book burners post“:

• An open letter to the blog publisher of professionaltester.com – Ben Kelly
• An Open Letter to Professional Tester Magazine – John Stevenson
• Re-evaluating the “book burners” accusation – Neil Studd

Mentions on (news) sites:

• The software testing schism – SDTimes
• More Software Testing Warfare – QESP
• Invisible gorillas in the mist – Metafilter.com
• Software testers petition to stop ISO 29119 – techtarget.com
• Community revolts against ISO software testing standards – computerweekly.com
• Standard väcker ont blod – Computer Sweden (Swedish)
• ISO 29119 Draws the Ire of Testers in uTest Community – uTest
• Can ISO 29119 Software Testing “Standard” Really Be a Standard? – Slashdot.org
• Veel controverse over de ISO29119 standaard – Testnieuws.nl (Dutch)
• Software testers balk at ISO 29119 standards proposal – Infoworld.com
• A storm about testing – bloorresearch.com
• ISO 29119: The rage among Software Testers – 360Logica.com
• Reaction to Proposed Software Testing Standard – InfoQ
• Should Software Testing be Standardized? – Crowdsource Testing

Discussions:

• Test Huddle: The Core of Testing – Dynamic Testing Process – According to ISO 29119
• Test Huddle: ISO #29119 Software Testing Standards
• Google hangout: Testing Standards and Certifications — Do We Need Them?
• Test Huddle: Testing Standards and Certifications — Do We Need Them?
• Linkedin: ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 – why the fear and opprobrium
• Linkedin: Petition against ISO29119
• Linkedin: What do you guys think of ISO 29119?
• Linkedin Group ISO29119
• Software Testing Club: A Testing Anti-Standard
• uTest: Debate This: ISO 29119 (& standards) is a Danger to Testing
• uTest: Are we hypocrites about ISO?
• uTest: Sign the petition to stop ISO testing standard
• uTest: Stopping the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 Software Testing Standards

Results of the Step-in Forum Testers’ Arena September Contest:

1. ISO 29119 – Impact on Software Testing
2. A Red flag for ISO: 29119
3. Why is ISO 29119 bad for Software Testing?
4. Can software testing be confined to a Standard (ISO 29119)?
5. Why ISO29119 Standard is bad for Testing
6. Blogspot on ISO 29119
7. Hot Cold Topic “Standards” : Building the Stand – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
8. Why not ISO 29119 Software Testing standard
9. ISO 29119 – NO GO

Older blogs:

• Testing standards? Can we do better? – James Christie
• This could easily be the testing industry – James Christie
• ISO 29119 the new software testing standard – what about it? – James Christie
• Do standards keep testers in the kindergarten? – James Christie
• A solution to a non-existent problem – Johan Jonasson
• ISO 29119 a benevolent start – Rikard Edgren
• ISO 29119 the “new” testing standard – Oliver Erlewein
• Common Languages Ain’t So Common – Michael Bolton
• Maturity Models Have It Backwards – Michael Bolton
• xMMwhy – Michael Bolton
• After the Disaster – Robert Martin
• Standards and Best Practices in Testing – Petteri Lyytinen

Videos

• Anne Mette Hass webinar: The Core of Testing – Dynamic Testing Process – According to ISO 29119
• James Christie CAST 2014 Talk: Standards – promoting quality or restricting competition?
• Karen N Johnson on “CAST Live” – Standards and Certifications
• James Christie on “CAST Live” – Software Testing Standards
• Stuart Reid – What Do The ISO 29119 Software Testing Standards Cover
• Stuart Reid – ISO 29119 Software Testing Standards
• Stuart Reid – EuroStar Webinar “ISO 29119 – the new set of international standards on software testing“

Slides

• James Christie – Standards – promoting quality or restricting competition?
• Michael Bolton – Standards and Deviations: The Role of Routine in Testing
• Stuart Reid – The New International Software Testing Standards