Out of the frying pan into the fire.

Have you ever thought that i would be good to say.

• We wont take things that arent unit tested.
• We will only be testing versus assessed risk.
• We will be reviewing all documents early and if not acceptable we will not allow development.
• If development is late then testing will be late and it wont go in the scheduled release.
• If its last minute then it better be a live issue.

Well the lion share of this is what the team I am part of are going to be doing soon. I fear that this is likely to start out being a rough ride as it is not what everyone is used to but it seems that it might well in the long run greatly improve things for everyone. Ultimately our team have little choice as currently we have little resources and alot of project and maintenance work to cover.

Testing danger!

I was sat in the waiting room at my local garage today and had some thoughts about testing and where we would be if people didnt take effort to ensure accurate testing. What would it be like if you had your MOT done then two hours later died in a crash cause by your brakes failing. In response the garage said "Well it all seemed to be passing so we just passed it only missed a few bits out." 

I think the main value in testing comes from doing the best job that you can to ensure quality and covering as many areas as you can in the time given. Then taking the results that you have and formulating a recommendation to proceed or not to proceed.

Deadlines and estimates

It has came to that time in work again when the questions start being asked. 

When is the testing likely to be complete?

How much testing is left to be done?

How is the testing going?

and many more questions. The reality is that you can only give a best guess especially since as testers we are relying on the rest of the development team to come up with the goods for us to test. For me today I took an educated guess that it should be finished just about on time.  I would say be clear with what you are aiming to complete and what you have already completed and then they can make a judgement call aswell on the likelyhood of something being completed. 

Most of all dont just allow something through that doesnt meet the expected!! 

Waiting...

3 days late testing and moving into day 4... I wont be starting the testing till tomorrow. In this case it is not my fault or that of the developers but some important things to consider are:-

* Smoke test the environment in advance to ensure that it is working correctly.
* Where possible smoke test the application/system in advance (even if it is an early build) to check that it is going to work.
* Regularly schedule your testing to fit in with your current testing progress.
* Regularly monitor your testing activities to keep all parties up to date with current progress.
* Keep contact with the developers and business analysts to pick up on any changes to the design and requirements. These can greatly impact the testing activites and you will need to know about this ASAP.