Cope with delays affecting software testing

Website design By BotEap.comWe have all been there, in a project in which the inevitable has happened. You guessed it, the code was delayed in testing, it was delivered at 11 am. The entry criteria have been threatened and possibly completely ignored. Your test environment was delivered, but remains untested as the code has not been available. The Project Manager has been harassed by company stakeholders for the delay in development and is not interested in their issues. IT management is pushing for the project to be delivered on time, and to top it all, Marketing has arranged to launch a campaign on the prescribed delivery date. As a test administrator, you are now the main obstacle to startup; the success of the project is on your shoulders. Oh yeah, and your six week trial window has been shortened to four.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is the stress (no pun intended) of the test execution phase. Not only do you now have to think outside the box to complete testing, but you also have to think on a much broader level than just testing. There are actions that can be taken at the project level that can make a big difference to the testers’ work.

Website design By BotEap.comLet’s start by looking at this from a broader perspective. I remember a situation in a very early project that I was managing. He sat down in a project progress meeting and they asked me how we could test with a run window shortened from four weeks to two. I stood my ground and refused to budge, resulting in a separate meeting immediately afterward with the Prime Minister, I was told this was not the correct course of action, and I got an advance directive in the art of testing.

Website design By BotEap.comGoing back to our problem, there are several actions that can be taken at the project level to help with the situation and it may be possible to help the PM by making some recommendations. (1) Is it necessary to put the application live? Is there an aspect of the application that can be launched as part of a second version, reducing the scope of the necessary tests? (2) Can the release only happen to internal users? This minimizes the risk of damage in the event of production defects, which means that the exit criteria can be reviewed. (3) Can additional development effort be applied to recover while in development?

Website design By BotEap.comRegardless of the project-level responses, the Test Manager can apply the following to handle the situation from within the tests:

Website design By BotEap.com(1) Insert testers into development team and increase unity and integration in small tests. It improves the quality before it reaches the tests, reducing the volume of defects found and therefore the duration.

(2) Consider taking completed application components before the agreed delivery date. Only certain parts of the app are likely causing the lag and not the entire app. Wearing some parts early increases the trial window and allows for some lost time to be made up.

(3) Apply a risk-based technical test. Test the application’s high-risk elements first, and run the tests in order of risk. When time runs out, this should mean that the only lower risk items have been skipped.

(4) Increase the hours worked by the team. Look at options related to overtime and weekend work. If you use offshore capabilities, consider working two days in one. (A word of caution at this point, if testers are working, they should have the support of environmental support staff and developers. Testing alone will only increase the flow of defects, making it difficult for development to stay current and an environmental problem could stop all work after hours).

(5) Consider overlapping some of the testing phases. For example, if UAT is running as a separate phase, after the bump tests, notice the overlap of some of the UATs with the bump tests being produced.

(6) Make sure the company focuses heavily on prioritizing defects. Make sure the developers are fixing what needs to be fixed first. (Don’t ignore gravity at this point.)

(7) Monitor the response to defects. If the development has been late, it is indicative of problems and a slow change of defects will paralyze the project and, while the tests can be completed, the exit criteria will have been corrupted.

(8) Can more environments be available? There is likely already a requirement for multiple environments, but if you start overlapping testing phases, functional with non-functional, with UAT, then the volume of environments required may increase.

(9) Carry out a review of the project exit criteria. Please note that this was established before the issues occurred, and while they are the desired outcome, some compromises may need to be reached. Determine what is acceptable, and remember that if coverage is reduced, the number of defects is indicative of only a percentage of the tests. that is, 80% coverage, means that you have only discovered 80% of the possible defects and it is good to assume that 20% are still not found.

Website design By BotEap.comActions (2), (3) and (5) above increase the risk in some way. Make sure the project and stakeholders agree to these risks and that, where possible, mitigation actions have been implemented.

Website design By BotEap.comIn short, there are many actions that can be taken within testing to deal with a slippage, while maintaining the original delivery date. Don’t forget the project elements that can make a difference. I’m sure there are more, but I make sure all aspects are scrutinized and only then do I begin to compromise testing.