Context-driven testing and the other schools

In Chapter 8, we introduced the idea of Agile software development, which is typically contrasted with Waterfall development. We also introduced context-driven testing, without providing much contrast, except as it was understood in the Waterfall and V-Model.

There are, however, various ways of thinking about the purpose and role of testing. One we’ll dive into in some depth later is the idea of process-oriented testing, which can be summarized as “plan your work; work your plan.” That sounds sensible, on the surface. Yet testing exists because people made a mistake; something unplanned happened. In our experience, many of the best test ideas are unplanned and emergent. Context-driven thinking allows for the possibility of learning from the process and coming up with new ideas at the moment. That allows for planning, but much less of a prescriptive, pre-defined process.

Brett Pettichord, a co-creator of the context...