Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
With the global economy slowing down, most end user organizations as well as
software vendors have been forced to resort to low-cost alternatives for software devel-
opment and software testing services. This has led to offshoring of software projects.
10.. Challenges
With maturity of test management at a very high level (most software services com-
panies will acknowledge that they have well-defined test processes and a rich body
of knowledge acquired after executing thousands of projects over the years), any
new project reporting becomes easier to manage and archive. However, software
testing is a very creative profession including test automation efforts. And here just
following the processes does not help, because sticking to process and creativity do
not mix well. You need to provide room for creativity in the project. And the catch
is that the creative portion of the project is tricky as far as reporting is concerned.
So how do you deal with it?
For the structured part (which conforms to defined processes like standard met-
rics, e.g., defect density, defect fixing cycle, defect tracking), standard processes can
be adopted. For the creative part (e.g., automation effort, test case preparation effort),
effort estimation itself is difficult to predict. Using sophisticated techniques effort
estimation can be predicted to some degree of accuracy. The best approach is to keep
track of risk factors in effort estimation (in fact, keep them on the plus side) so that
later on stakeholders are not in for any surprises. Remember, the biggest challenge
a test team faces is meeting or exceeding customer expectations. The customer will
never forgive you if, due to overconfidence or pressure from any stakeholders, you
commit to a timeline that is not sustainable. So always keep a safe margin for your
team when you do effort estimation. That way, you can always deliver something
extra to your customer apart from your deliverables. “You should always commit less
and deliver more!” This is what will keep you in good stead and in fact get you appre-
ciation from your client and your management. On the other hand, if you agree to
deliver goods in an unmanageable timeline and you fail to deliver in time, you have
committed a sin that will not be forgiven by either the client or your management.
10..
Requirement Analysis
When any project document is made, there are several revisions to it. These docu-
ments are never complete or accurate. This is especially true of the customer require-
ment document. If you are working for a product development project, then things
are easier. Even customer-specific implementation of a project does not add or
change many features in the product. The new user interface specifications are simi-
lar to the existing user interface, new components of user interfaces are similar to
existing components, workflows are similar to existing workflows, transactions are
similar to existing transactions, and so on. Adding or modifying these new features
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