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 experience from the IT Consulting business ◦ Primarily Project Manager and Business Consultant

on strategic projects in both private and public sector◦ Some years as line manager –

incl. Head of the Project Management Community in one of Scandinavia’s largest IT consultancy groups, with more than 150 PMs and TMs

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/

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 attention – use it wisely- to gain the mandate you need to manage the test activities

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

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

What is the record for test strategy page meter carrying?

Photo (Flickr):thegift73

Test strategies are for communication – not for documentation◦ Write for the target audience!

◦ Put forward the important choices in an understandable way – do not let the important drown in details

◦ The document has no value in itself– it’s the common understanding and direction it gives that creates value

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?

What is most important in a test strategy? - Build support from management for the most important choices, which gives you a clear boundaries to manage within

You will receive a limited amount of attention – how will you spend it?◦ Don’t make the readers relate to details or issues they need not worry

about – that will only dilute the message

◦ Don’t waste space and attention on matters covered elsewhere

◦ Dare to impress with a short and concise strategy – possibly on presentation format

◦ Use tables and graphics to create compressed overviews

◦ It’s bolder (and more difficult) than hiding behind 50 pages based on an old-fashioned and inappropriate standard template

Don’t underestimate the level of test knowledge out there – most project managers and steering committees have participated in several projects and learned a lot about testing

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?

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

Use your critical sense – don’t base your work on an extensive templateDistinguish clearly betweenTest strategy – the overall policies, guidelines and priorities that project

management and steering committee must supportand

Test plans – everything you as a test manager and professional can take responsibility for yourself

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 attention – use it wisely

- to gain the mandate you need to manage the test activities

Photo (Flickr):ILhan Gendron

Emancipate yourself from bloated test strategies!

Photo (Flickr):Jake Gagne

Photo (Flickr):Horia Varlan

Reachable on remi.hansen@promis.no