Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
construction, contract manufacturing, or for that matter any industry. Why do
software projects not have detailed designs? Well, the cause is hidden in the nature
of the software industry. The software industry is characterized by a fast and con-
stantly changing business scenario. The average life of a software product is hardly
5 years. Hardware on which this software product runs has a still shorter life.
Compared to this scenario, a building is built to last 50 years or more. Definitely it
makes sense to have a detailed design for something that has such a long life. That
is why software projects cannot afford to provide time to create detailed designs for
the software to be built. The other reason is that even if we create a detailed design
for a software system (spanning more than a year or so), then the software platform,
software language, software architecture, and so on, will be obsolete by the time
the software is built and ready for use.
In such a scenario, software testing becomes critical. Testers are under pres-
sure to verify and validate the software system in a compressed timescale and yet
they also have the pressure to push the product out of the door (obviously from
the development team) even if the product is half-baked. On the other hand, the
customer is also eager and constantly asking how much more time it will take to
deploy the product. He is losing patience and is not willing to accept any explana-
tions. Software test managers always face such prospects. They definitely are con-
stantly in tough situations, and only the tenacious and smart guys survive in this
part of the world.
10.2 Service Level Agreement
The service level agreement (SLA) is the single most important factor that can
make or break any relationship between the customer and the service provider.
Most of the customer expectations revolve around it. So from the very outset
the SLA should be framed in such a manner that later on it will be easy for both
the customer and the service provider to fall back on it whenever any dispute
arises.
In the offshoring situation, SLAs become even more important. The envi-
ronment in which offshored projects are executed is entirely different from the
environment in which traditional in-house test projects used to operate. Due to
distance, difference in culture and productivity, and many other bottlenecks,
these projects need a mature delivery vehicle to build confidence with the cus-
tomer. These service providers now consolidate software testing projects to
reduce costs. In such a situation, it becomes difficult for the service provider to
give due importance to each and every project. Some projects thus may suffer due
to low priority assigned to them by the service provider. In consolidation mode,
it also becomes difficult to stick to SLAs for projects that have a different scope
or nature.
In such a situation, SLAs become the only tool in the armory of the customers.
