Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
..1
Test Area Prioritization
Each resource allocated to your project has a workload that comprises priority areas
and normal tasks. Priority tasks are the ones that deliver customer satisfaction and
contribute to project success. So it is very important that resources perform these
priority tasks first. This is especially true in the test case execution phase, where
some test case results are vital and so should be prioritized to be executed ahead of
other test cases. For instance, the customer may like to see early test results for some
critical new features that have been added in the new release. In this case, test cases
related to these features should be executed ahead of other test areas.
..2
Skill Matching
Software test skills are getting more and more specialized along with software test-
ing practice maturity. In the early days some 20 years back, a test team could have
test managers, test engineers, team leaders, usability experts, and some other odd
professionals on the test team. But not anymore! Now the team could have test
managers, test analysts, domain experts, usability experts, delivery managers, test
engineers, automation engineers, and so on. If your project is an outsourced one,
then most probably your team must be following some form of TMM process. In
some good organizations an elaborate process is followed to reduce test effort using
a framework of the center of excellence model. So many people in your team may
be working on more than one project simultaneously.
...
Resource Allocation
With pressure to reduce costs more and more, test teams are now facing the heat
to deliver more and more in less time on their projects. So resource allocation plays
a major role in achieving profitability for the outsourcing service provider on each
of their projects. Thus, resource allocation does not impact just one project but
has direct bearing on the bottom line of the outsourcing service provider. For this
reason resource allocation for any upcoming project cannot be done in isolation.
Many resources can be working on more than one project simultaneously. Thus,
the time of each resource is very precious and their time for the new project should
be utilized conservatively.
... Tools Selection
Depending on project requirements, you may need to select tools for test case
repository, automating test case execution, defect tracking, defect reporting, and
so on. Different tools have different advantages and disadvantages over others. At
