Agile Thinkers

Jerry Weinberg - Q1

Q1.  Hi Jerry, I'm intrigued by the title of your new book "Perfect Software and other illusions about testing", which will be published later this year.  Are you saying that "perfect software" is impossible but a lot of people believe it is?  Can you elaborate on this?

Perfect software is indeed impossible, and even if we had it, we'd have no way of knowing. The Laws of Thermodynamics tell us why it's impossible, but that doesn't prevent lots of people from believing it's possible--just like many people believe perpetual motion machines are possible.

The book elaborates on this and many other illusions about testing--why people continue to believe them, what kinds of trouble they cause, and what can be done to mitigate that trouble.

(BTW, the book will be available in July 2008, any day now.)

[Clarke: I'll post an entry here when it's out]

Jerry Weinberg - Q2

Q2.  You've probably written more books than I've read in my lifetime ... and, as far as I know, none of them have been specifically about testing. Why this book, now?  Does the software development world really need another book on testing?

The software development world definitely needs THIS book on testing. I've written it now because I've grown almost fatally tired of dealing with clients who have all sorts of cuckoo ideas about testing. Reviews have already ordered multiple copies of the book to give to their managers, customers, developers, and testers. It's short and hopefully easy to read by non-techies. It's time we cleared up these recurrent fallacies if we want to our profession to progress. That's why I wrote the book now.

And, BTW, I've written about testing in every software book I've published, but people have been asking me to bring lots of material together in one place. This book is not a compendium of what I've already written, but more of a deeper analysis behind all of those things written by me and a bunch of wise commentators. I intend it as a must-read for everyone connected with computing in any way.