eurostar 2013 - test strategies are 90 percent waste!
Post on 12-May-2015
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Remi Hansen, PROMIS AS
Test Strategies Are 90% Waste
www.eurostarconferences.com
@esconfs#esconfs
Me and my message
Anti-patterns
Recommendations
Photo (Flickr): Spiroll
Senior PM in PROMIS, a leading provider of agile project and test management services in Norway (www.promis.no)
20+ years in IT Consulting business ◦ Primarily Project Manager and Business Consultant
on strategic projects in both private and public sector
Presenter on local and international conferences
B.Sc. in SW Engineering, M. Sc. in Industrial Economics
Certified Project Management Professional (PMP), PRINCE2 Practitioner, IT Project Professional (ITPP), CSPO, ISTQB Foundation and ITIL
no.linkedin.com/in/remihansen/
Q UAL I F Y
1. Dare to break the test strategy anti-patterns
2. Test strategies are for communication – not for documentation
3. You will receive a limited amount of management attention –use it wisely - to gain the mandate you need to do your job effectively
Foto (Flickr):Jordan McCullough
Photo (Flickr):thegift73
An anti-pattern is a pattern used in social or business operations or software engineering that may be commonly used but is ineffective and/or counterproductive in practice
Can you think of anytest strategy anti-patterns?
Use a template based on an international standard- make sure to fill in something in every section
Write as if the document exists without any context at all
Write as if the reader has never heard of the concept of testing
Do not communicate any of the contentuntil the document is complete, in perfect condition
and formally approved
Volume = Quality
Write for the test management community– Stick strictly to the test vocabulary!
Include a snapshot of the risk,
to have it declared once and for all
Write excessively about what the SW developers should do in their unit tests
Additional anti-patterns?
If you follow these anti-patterns you should keep occupied for a long time
producing an impeccable documentof at least 50 pages
- With close to zero valuebecause nobody can endure reading it
- And if anybody does read itit’s certainly not the ones who should read it
Photo (Flickr):thegift73
Build support from management for the most important choices, which gives you a clear boundaries to manage within
Photo (Flickr):Michele M.F.
Be very clear on the distinction between
the strategy = what you must have management backing for
and
the plan = what you as a test professional and manager will
take responsibility for and management shouldn’t really worry too much about management by exception
Present the strategy incrementally – build consensus around the essential choices before moving on to more detailed issues
Presentation is more effective than documents
Create discussions and common conclusions
Do we need the traditional test strategy document?
Put forward the important choices in an understandable way ◦ Don’t let the important drown in details◦ Don’t make the readers relate to issues they need not
worry about – that will only dilute the message◦ Don’t waste space and attention on matters covered
elsewhere
The document has no value in itself– it’s the shared understanding and direction it gives that creates value
Don’t underestimate the level of test knowledge out there
A decision maker without test knowledge will not become knowledgeable even if you write a lot of details – don’t write a textbook on test management!
What would you includeif you were to write a test strategy
on five slides?
Photo (Flickr):Captain Tenneal
Which tests will we perform?
When (in what phases) do we test?
Who (what roles) will perform the tests?
In which environments will we test?
What test techniques are required?
What are the test objects?
What are the acceptance criteria?
What tools will we use?
What documentation is needed?
What metrics do we need?
Distinguish clearly betweenTest strategy – the overall policies, guidelines and priorities that
Project Management and Steering Committee must support (contract between project management and TM)and
Test plans – everything you as a Test Manager can take responsibility for yourself
Which tests will we perform?
When (in what phases) do we test?
Who (what roles) will perform the tests?
In which environments will we test?
What test techniques are required?
What are the test objects?
What are the acceptance criteria?
What tools will we use?
What documentation is needed?
What metrics do we need?
Tabular / graphics presentation
Do we need this inthe strategy? Consider moving to test plan
What’s missing?
Test objectives / Business risk assessment
Strategy for test automation
Clarifications on scope, ambition and responsibility for more «peripheral» tests, like non-functional test incl. performance tests, regression tests, operational tests, quality assurance of documentation and training, usability tests, static testing, code quality, etc.
Resource requirements – type and amount
What you should remember
1. Dare to break the test strategy anti-patterns
2. Test strategies are for communication
– not for documentation
3. You will receive a limited amount of management attention
– use it wisely - to gain the mandate you need to do your job effectively
Photo (Flickr):ILhan Gendron
Emancipate yourself from bloated test strategies!
Photo (Flickr):Jake Gagne
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