(Following is an article I penned for a Software Testing competition organized by Accenture, Chennai. Hope you guys enjoy it, and do leave your comments)
Test measurement and reporting - Opportunities and challenges
What cannot be measured cannot be managed. [Whoever said it first in this forum, might want to claim the credit. I would have quoted it anyway :-) !]
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The "continuous improvement" ideology inherently adopted in all walks of Software engineering makes benchmarking of performance attributes a mandate. Software Testing is no different.
The multifold inferences that could be made out of measuring Software Test parameters not only help achieve improved internal efficiencies but also provide an effective marketing strategy to be showcased to customers.
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At a high level, software test measurement parameters involves Test Case related, Bug related, and Effort related. These data obviously will depend on the organization model (Product and Services organisation will have their own logic)
On one side, defining parameters may seem a cakewalk, but measuring them invariably turns out to be a relentlessly daunting effort. What's even difficult is collating these data and making the parameters presentable to the management and customers or whoever the target recepient is. Limited resources in terms of lack of tools, poorly managed processes and divided systems make the task even daunting.
Thanks to the numerous tools which with some smart implementation can help report unbelievable metrics. Simple metrices such as DER or % effort* on one side makes immense sense to the manager (in terms of operational efficiency), it might make very little sense to the upper management who would like to see reporting of these data in terms of cost savings to the company or value addition to existing accounts.
There lies the challenge of having effective systems in place to collate Test Parameters keeping in mind upper management's needs.
The confidence level such measurements bring is three-fold.
1.) Help quantify improvements in Operational Efficiencies
2.) Project to higher management the Direct (or) In-direct dollar savings by improvising on
activities based on earlier data.
3.) Achieve customer satisfaction in terms of faster turn-around due to operation efficiencies.
But the real problem is, this field is dominated by those who manage what they do not understand...
Test measurement and reporting - Opportunities and challenges
What cannot be measured cannot be managed. [Whoever said it first in this forum, might want to claim the credit. I would have quoted it anyway :-) !]
------
The "continuous improvement" ideology inherently adopted in all walks of Software engineering makes benchmarking of performance attributes a mandate. Software Testing is no different.
The multifold inferences that could be made out of measuring Software Test parameters not only help achieve improved internal efficiencies but also provide an effective marketing strategy to be showcased to customers.
-------
At a high level, software test measurement parameters involves Test Case related, Bug related, and Effort related. These data obviously will depend on the organization model (Product and Services organisation will have their own logic)
On one side, defining parameters may seem a cakewalk, but measuring them invariably turns out to be a relentlessly daunting effort. What's even difficult is collating these data and making the parameters presentable to the management and customers or whoever the target recepient is. Limited resources in terms of lack of tools, poorly managed processes and divided systems make the task even daunting.
Thanks to the numerous tools which with some smart implementation can help report unbelievable metrics. Simple metrices such as DER or % effort* on one side makes immense sense to the manager (in terms of operational efficiency), it might make very little sense to the upper management who would like to see reporting of these data in terms of cost savings to the company or value addition to existing accounts.
There lies the challenge of having effective systems in place to collate Test Parameters keeping in mind upper management's needs.
The confidence level such measurements bring is three-fold.
1.) Help quantify improvements in Operational Efficiencies
2.) Project to higher management the Direct (or) In-direct dollar savings by improvising on
activities based on earlier data.
3.) Achieve customer satisfaction in terms of faster turn-around due to operation efficiencies.
But the real problem is, this field is dominated by those who manage what they do not understand...
