softwaretestingclub

A Track down History

jlottosen Softwaretesting , , , , , , , ,

Currently I am doing a large V-model waterfall project with a three month testing period and 500+ requirements. To track the progress I want to dust off my old “test progress tracking” method that I matured and described in 2011 and 2014.

The approach was documented in two articles for “The Testing Planet” a paper magazine by the Software Testing Club. The “STC” later became the now world famous Ministry of Testing. Unfortunately the original articles are no longer available on the MoT site – they are on the WayBackMachine. So not to track down that path, here’s a recap of:

A Little Track History that goes a Long Way

For large (enterprise, waterfall) projects tracking test progress is important, as it helps us understand if we will finish a given test scope on time. Tracking many of projects have given me one key performance indicator: daily Percent Passed tests as compared to an s-curve. The data in the S-curve is based on the following data points, based on numerous projects:

Time progressExpected Passed Progress
10%0%
20%5%
30%10%
40%30%
50%45%
60%60%
70%75%
80%90%
90%95%
100%100%
Adding a 3rd order polynomial trend-curve gives the s-curve.

If the “Actual” curve is flat over more days or is below the blue trend line, then investigate what is blocking the test progress… defects perhaps:

The Defect Count and Camel Image

During a large project like this the active bug count goes up and down. No one can tell what we find tomorrow or how many we will find. In my experience tracking the daily count of active defects (i.e. not resolved) is key, and will oscillate like the humps on a camel:

Camel background is optional

If the curve doesn’t bend down after a few days there are bottlenecks in the timely resolution of defects found. When the count goes up – testing a new (buggy) area is usually happening. Over time the tops of the humps should be lower and lower and by the end of the project, steep down to 0.

And thus a little track history has come a long way.

The Testing Planet, July 2011
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Test ALL the things

jlottosen Enterprise IT, Family and fun, Softwaretesting , , , , , , , , , ,

TL;DR: We can add testing to all requirements and all business risks. Testing to document requirements and to debunk risks provides valuable information for the business. Let us not limit testing to things that can be coded. The intellectual activity of trial and learning is happening anyways, we might as well pitch in with ways to find important evidence for the decision makers.

Test all the requirements

Traditionally testing was all about testing the functional requirements that could be coded. Non-functional requirements was left for the specialists, or plainly disregarded. I know I have done my share of test planning, with a range of requirements left “N/A” with regards to testing. Especially performance scope, batch jobs, hardware specs, data base table expansions and virus scanning have been left out of my functional test plans…

When I look at a list of requirements now – I see that we can indeed test all the things, or we can at least work on how to document that the requirement is fulfilled. Some of the requirements are actually quite easy to document. If it’s on a screen somewhere, take a screen shot and attach it to a simple test case. Done deal really. Additionally with a testing mind-set I can think of ways to challenge the details. But do we really, really need to fill up a disk to establish if it’s exactly a 1 Gb allocation – probably not. Do we really really need to document all requirements – yes in some contracts/contexts it’s important for the customer to know that everything has indeed been established. Sometimes the customer doesn’t trust you otherwise, sometimes the tests are more about your ability to deliver and provide evidence that matters.

Test all the business risks

Look into the business case of your project and find the business risks. Sometimes they are explicitly stated and prioritized. A a recent Ministry of Testing Meetup we looked into a case for a large national health system. We looked at the tangible benefits, intangible benefits and on the scored business risks.  What worried the business and management most was budget, time and whether the new system would be used in a standardized way. There is an opportunity for testing here to help address, document and challenge the most important business  risks. Traditional testing would usually look at functional requirements that can be coded or configured, and miss totally to address what matters most to the business.

OK, how do we test the project costs? How about frequent checkpoints of expected spending – would that be similar to tracking test progress. Perhaps – let’s find out. Testing is all about asking questions for the stakeholders and solving the most important problems first. Can we help to analyse risks and setup mitigation activities – sure we can. We just have to step out of our traditional “software only bubble”.

MEME - Test ALL the things
Meme ALL the things

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read also: Many Bits under the Bridge, Less Software, more Testing, Test Criteria for Outsourced Software, The Expected, Fell in the trap of total coverage.

Links: “A Context-Driven Approach to Delivering Business Value”, Cynefin In Software Testing, Testing during Application Transition Trials

 

Testing across the IT landscape

jlottosen Enterprise IT, Softwaretesting , , ,

Good testing is much more than confirmation of explicit requirements. It’s figuring out the implicit requirements, what blocks the business and what drives the business. Businesses are not driven by SDLC’s but by decisions and strategies. IT road maps are just a representation of the business strategy, an engine to build business solutions on. The is much more to the business than the software solutions and related risk mitigation.

Very often the biggest business risks are outside the project scope. When we look at it this way we see that testers and testing activities has an opportunity outside the classic project life cycle. Testing is about experimenting with a IT solution, to evaluate if it fits the business requests. IT solutions that supports the business exists in many forms, I am certain that explicit testing (*) can add value in other parts of the IT landscape.

Here is a model of an enterprise IT landscape consisting of business ideas, solution development, operations and end user devices + support. Solution delivery is boring in the sense of well-known software creation and maintenance. What if the item under test and the requirements are around network, servers, end-user devices and IT support tickets. I am certain that it’s valuable to test business cases before the project is even formally assembled.

 

*: implicit testing in the form of critical evaluation always happen. .. similarly does checking.

Co-creating smarter testers

jlottosen Softwaretesting , , , , , , ,

“Co-creating smarter testers” is the byline of the Ministry of Testing, a small company with a great impact that I have been following and supporting for 7 years* now . I have attended TestBash’es, webinars, challenges, discussions and memes. And now for the first time in Denmark – Anders Dinsen and I are bringing the world known Meetups to Copenhagen (Aarhus 2017 you’re next).

Ministry of Testing – Copenhagen

Copenhagen, DK
224 Members

The Ministry of Testing exists to advance the software testing industry in a fun, safe, professional and forward thinking way.Our meetups exist as a way to bring people toget…

Check out this Meetup Group →

The topics so far are:

At the first meetup we split into three groups, discussed risks and how to TEST THEM RISKS. Dearest to me was the discussion of stakeholders and new places to test. Great to see that even with very little information, we can still do a rapid testing based on business objectives. There is so much more to testing these days.

600_457785753

1: since a EuroStar 2010 t-shirt competition 🙂

QA Aarhus – Exploratory Testing How and When

jlottosen Enterprise IT, Softwaretesting , , , , , , , , , ,

QA Network Aarhus is a local non-affiliated network of testers (and good friends) in Aarhus. Where I had the great pleasure of talking about Exploratory Testing. This is the link collection, the slides are attached.

nnit

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Testing for coffee, testing for ǝnןɐʌ

jlottosen Softwaretesting , , , , ,

We focus on both testing and the office coffee a lot and may be looking at its real value too little. If testing does not provide direct business value – as the office coffee does – how can we elaborate and talk about it as a value to the business?

Time: October 1st 2013  Cafe Stiften Banegårdspladsen 11, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark

If you attend #GOTO aarhus 2013 this will be a good time to continue discussing “ǝnןɐʌ: Why we have it backwards”http://gotocon.com/aarhus-2013/presentation/ǝnןɐʌ:%20Why%20we%20have%20it%20backwards

The first 25 participants gets

meetup