You've now seen examples of really nasty bugs, you know what the definition of a bug is, and you know how costly they can be. By now it should be pretty evident what a tester's goal is:

The goal of a software tester is to find bugs.

You may run across product teams who want their testers to simply confirm that the software works, not to find bugs. Reread the case study about the Mars Polar Lander, and you'll see why this is the wrong approach. If you're only testing things that should work and setting up your tests so they'll pass, you will miss the things that don't work. You will miss the bugs.

If you're missing bugs, you're costing your project and your company money. As a software tester you shouldn't be content at just finding bugsyou should think about how to find them sooner in the development process, thus making them cheaper to fix.

The goal of a software tester is to find bugs and find them as early as possible.

But, finding bugs, even finding them early, isn't enough. Remember the definition of a bug. You, the software tester, are the customer's eyes, the first one to see the software. You speak for the customer and must seek perfection.

The goal of a software tester is to find bugs, find them as early as possible, and make sure they get fixed.

This final definition is very important. Commit it to memory and refer back to it as you learn the testing techniques discussed throughout the rest of this book.