If you have problems testing, the fault may be in project planning

I’ve seen time and again that problems in development projects tend to (seemingly) surface at the same time: When the client starts testing. Until then most issues can be ignored, but when end users start testing, the problems come crashing through.

Sound familiar?

When I said problems seemingly surface during testing, I meant that the root cause of the problem is in the phases before testing. In fact, 90% of the problems found during testing are caused by the failings of traditional project planning and execution methods that simply don’t cut it anymore.

Common problems at the beginning of testing are:

  1. The functionalities are not fully ready when testing starts.
  2. The project’s issue management ability is poor – Defect handling is not effective.
  3. Testers don’t know how to use the new software.
  4. Resource needs are underestimated.
  5. Test preparations are done poorly, testing progress is hard to report.
  6. Test manager simply doesn’t have the time to manage the testing.

The key in preventing these problems is to look to the previous phases. To project planning, definition and execution.

The project can be planned and executed in a way, that when testing starts, you know exactly what is ready and what isn’t. When the project is broken down into execution packages, and further into use process cases, project progress can be monitored in real time.

By utilizing use process cases, testing preparations can be done fast and efficiently. Test cases are derived from use cases and both are linked together. This way, test preparations go smoother and are more organized than, for example, with random Excel sheets.

If you want to know how to plan, define and execute your project so it won’t crash when testing starts, take a look at our VIP area.

The VIP area is a complete guide on how to manage your IT project from start to finish. Go to read the helpful articles!

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