Foolstroupe & Bert : YES.

I have been working recently as a Test Analyst.

Firstly, I have had to learn to read various languages (C#, PL\SQL) so I can point out the elementary errors to the developers. Code review is not officially to be part of my job, and I am SUPPOSED to be provided with signed-off Unit Test results before I start my testing. It is clear from code released to me that unit testing has been totally inadequate. Developers do not seem to be taught how to test their code.

Secondly, yes, deadline-oriented development, as required by most method(ologie)s, means that you get brownie points for delivering on time, but you don't lose any when it doesn't work.

This is totally incompatible with the principle that it is far more cost-effective to find and fix bugs early in the development.

A project on which I was recently engaged was put live long before it was ready, when it was known that the code was still 'fragile'. It resulted in major costs and long hours worked in rectifying the problems, and it was pure luck that the problem was able to be contained, or a household name could have been sunk.

So I am not surprised when software does not work.