Ask HN: What Killed Manual Software Testing?
Hi HN! I&#x27;ve been working in software development for the past 8 years in different capacities, always for startups or SMBs. Recently I&#x27;ve been thinking about in-house manual software testing - or rather the lack thereof - I&#x27;ve experienced during that time. What gives? Did it ever exist in &quot;typical&quot; software development? If yes, where did it go?<p>Trying to push the issue in multiple projects I&#x27;ve been involved in has so far been met with resistance, calling it unnecessary. The usual counter arguments are:<p><pre><code>  - Users will report bugs
  - The customer will test it before delivery (in case of contract work)
  - Automated testing
</code></pre>
Am I crazy to think the first two show a lack of care for quality of our software, and that effective automated testing is too hard (writing tests that catch a wide range of non-regression bugs is often more difficult than writing the actual program) and expensive for projects on limited budgets? Wouldn&#x27;t a few QA staff for testing on a regular basis be cheaper than the additional engineering hours for automation or support for unhappy customers?<p>The only time I&#x27;ve seen structured manual testing in practice was in a company where the entire development and IT staff was assigned to it the day before a planned release. It was grueling and linear work, but even that uncovered bugs that automation didn&#x27;t catch. At another project, the bugs seemed to become more severe after people in our company (especially outside engineering) stopped using it on a regular basis. Would hiring someone to do it as their job help? Are there resources out there to get started on setting manual QA up?