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Abstract
Zhang, X., Dhaliwal, J., and Gillenson, M.L., 2010. “Organizing Software Testing For Improved Quality And Satisfaction”, Journal of Information Technology Management, (21:4), pp. 1-12.

The way testing is organized for software development has not been adequately addressed in both the practitioner and academic research literature. In practice, a diverse set of methods is being used to organize testing. Some organizations emphasize one-to-one matching between developers and testers while others do not. Additionally, some organizations have a distinct testing unit for their testing professionals while others have them in the same unit as developers. Such practices are also influenced by the development methodologies of the organization such as the lifecycle and agile approaches. This paper attempts to shed light on whether these governance choices matter. It considers the influence of the development methods, the existence of one-to-one matching between developers and testers, and the existence of a distinct corporate testing unit on software quality and job satisfaction. The results of this study suggest that development methods do not significantly influence software quality or job satisfaction. However, one-to-one matching of developers and testers has a positive influence on both software quality and job satisfaction. The existence of a dedicated organizational unit for software testing also has a positive influence on the quality of software developed. These results suggest that organizations must emphasize one-to-one matching and a distinct testing unit for improved software quality and job satisfaction.

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Last Updated: 1/23/12