Test Management Flashcards
Besides testing professionals, who are examples of other roles that may test?
Testing tasks may be done by people in a specific testing role or by people in another role. Ex: Customers, developers, admins
What are the 5 degrees of independence of testers and testing departments (least to most independent)
① No independent testers-the only form of testing avaliable is developers testing their own code
② Independent developers or testers within the development team. Could be developers testing each other’s code
③ Independent test team or group within the organization reporting to product management or executive management
④ Indepent testers from the business organization or user community or with specializations in specific test types i.e. usability, security, or performance
⑤ Independent testers external to the organization either working on site or offsite
What are 3 benefits of independent testing?
Benefits of test independence include:
① Independent testers are likely to recognize different kinds of failures from developers due to their different backgrounds, technical perspectives and biases
② Independent testers can verify, challenge or disprove assumptions made by stakeholders
③ Independent testers of a vendor can report in an upright and objective manner without pressure from the company that hired them
What are some drawbacks of independent testers?
Drawbacks of test independence are:
① Isolation from the development team may lead to a lack of collaboration, delays in providing feedback, or an adversarial relationship between testers and developers
② Developers may lose a sense of responsibility for the quality of their work
③ Independent testers might be seen as a bottleneck
④ Independent testing may lack some important information about the test objects
Within the ISTQB, 2 test roles are covered what are those roles?
Test manager- Is responsible for the test process overall. They lead the test activities.
Testers- Execute tests and evaluate results
Name at least 5 typical duties of a test manager.
• Developing or reviewing a test policy
• Planning test activities by considering the context and understanding test objectives and risks
• Writing and updating test plans
• Coordinating that test plan with project managers and product owners
• Monitoring test progress and results
• Checking the status of exit criteria to facilitate test completion activities
• Preparing and delivering test progress reports and test summary reports
• Introducing suitable metrics for measuring test progress and results
• Evaluating the quality of both the testing and the product
• Supporting the testing and implementation of test tools
• Advocate for the testers, test team, & the test profession within the organization
• Help develop the skills of the testers
Name at least 5 typical duties of a tester.
• Reviewing and contributing to test plans
• Analyzing, reviewing and assessing requirements, user stories and acceptance criteria
• Identifying and documenting test conditions
• Capturing traceability between test cases, conditions, & the test basis
• Designing, setting up and verifying test environments
• Designing & implementing test cases and procedures
• Preparing & acquiring test data
• Creating a detailed test execution schedule
• Executing tests and evaluating results
• Documenting any deviations from expected results
• Automating necessary tests
• Evaluating non-functional characteristics like performance, efficacy, reliability and security
• Reviewing tests developed by others
What is a test plan and what are at least 5 factors that influence test planning?
Test Plans - outline test activities for development and maintenance projects. Test planning is a continuous activity and is performed throughout the product’s life Cycle
Factors that influence Test Planning:
* Test policy & strategy of the organization
* SDLC and methods being used
* scope of testing
* objectives
* Risks
* criticality
* Testability
* Availability of Resources
What are at least 5 test planning activities?
Test planning activities may include the following:
* Determining the scope, objectives, and risks of testing
* Defining the overall approach
* Making decisions about:
① What-to test
② Who-People & Resources required
③ How - the test will be carried out
* scheduling of test activities
* selecting metrics for test monitoring and control
* Budgeting
* Determining documentation detail level & structure
What is a test strategy and how is it different from a test plan?
Test strategy - a generalized description of the test process usually at the product or organizational level
Test Plans - outline test activities for development and maintenance projects. Test planning is a continuous activity and is performed throughout the product’s life Cycle
What are 5 common types of test strategy.
Common types of test strategy include:
* Analytical - based on the analysis of some factor. Ex: Risk-based testing tests are designed & prioritized based on level of risk
* Model-based - based on a model of some required aspect of the product Ex: a function, business process, internal structure or reliability
* Methodical - systemic use of some pre-defined set of tests or test conditions EX: taxonomy of common failures
* Process or standards compliance-Designing and implementing tests based on external rules and standards. Ex: Industry specific standards
* Directed-driven by advice, guidance or instructions of stakeholders
* Regression Averse-Motivated by a desire to avoid regression of existing capabilities
* Reactive-Testing is reactive to the components or system being tested and events occurring during testing execution rather than being pre-planned
- An appropriate test strategy is often created by combining several of these test strategies. Ex: Risk-based testing, an analytical strategy can be combined with exploratory testing, a reactive strategy
What are entry and exit criteria? How often should they be defined? What should they be based on?
Entry and Exit Criteria-criteria which define when a given test activity should start and when it is complete
Entry and Exit criteria should be defined for each test level and type and will differ based on the test objectives
What is typical entry criteria based on?
Typical Entry criteria may be based the availability of:
* testable requirements, User stories, and/or models
* test items that have met the exit criteria for any prior test levels
* test environment
* necessary test tools
* test data & other necessary resources.
What are some typical exit criteria?
Typical Exit criteria may include:
* Planned tests have been executed
* A defined level of coverage has been achieved
* Number of unresolved defects is within an agreed limit
* Number of estimated remaining defects is sufficiently low
* These evaluated levels are sufficient:
① Reliability
② Performance
③ Efficiency
④ Usability
⑤ security
⑥ Other quality characteristics
Test Estimation is used to determine the effort required for adequate testing. What are 2 common test estimation techniques and give an example of each.
*Metrics-based technique: Based on metrics of similar projects or typical values
Ex: Burn Down Charts in Agile is an example of the metrics-based approach as effort remaining is being captured and reported
- Expert-based technique: Based on experience of testers or exports Ex:
Planning Poker is an example of the expert-based approach as team members are estimating effort based on their experiences.
