Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 9.3
Test completion rate per tester per day.
Once you have the test effort data for each person and each day, you must compare
the test effort people have contributed to the number of work days they were assigned
to participate in system testing. Ideally, this ratio would come out to 1.00. The num-
bers you actually collect will give you a measurement of something you may have felt
was true, but couldn't prove before: Most testers are unable to spend 100% of their
time on testing. This being the case, don't plan on testers spending 100% of their time
on a single task! Measurements will show you how much to expect from system testers
based on various levels of participation. Some testers will be dedicated to testing as
their only assignment. Others may perform a dual role, such as developer/tester or QA
engineer/tester. Collect effort data for your team members that fall into each category
as shown in Figure 9.4.
This data leads to a number of important points. One is that, given tester “overhead�?
tasks such as training, meetings, preparing for demos, and so on, a full-time tester may
only be able to contribute about 75% of his or her time at best, and 50%-60% on
average over the course of a long project. If you are counting on people with other
responsibilities—for example, artists, developers, or QA—to help with testing, then
expect only half as much participation as the full-time testers. Using the numbers in
Figure 9.4, that would be about 30% of their total available time. You will need to
make these measures for your own particular project.
