Deception is normal within software development. Project bids routinely promise delivery to an impossible timescale and budget. Clients hide costs from suppliers. Project managers disguise actual progress. And stakeholders present false progress reports to bosses and sponsors.
Deception is one of the great elephants in the room of dysfunctional software development. Most people are aware of it. All suffer its consequences. However, nobody wishes to discuss it.
Deception is particularly important in testing, as this is where deception meets reality. However, deception is not all that it appears to be.
In this session, we explore the surprisingly nuanced world of deception. We learn that, rather than being a simple binary state, deception exists on a continuum of honesty – dishonesty. We show that deception is best understood as a multi-dimensional fabrication, with three primary dimensions:
- Intended beneficiary
- Substance
- Means
We show that, whilst deception is universally viewed as unethical, actual ethics are somewhat more nuanced, and heavily context dependent.
We describe a typical software development project and identify common deceptions at different project phases, plus whether those deceptions are judged ethical or unethical.
We conclude by exploring the consequences of deception, and discover some counterintuitive consequences.
Come to this session and learn more about one of the most important topics to affect you that nobody will ever talk about.