Dr. Project: Test Strategy

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to put together a Test Strategy? Templates and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ruth

Dear Ruth,

So you want to know about test strategies, do you? From your question I can tell that you too have encountered the nasty "I forgot to plan for testing" virus. As you know this virus is almost always fatal for the project and often fatal for the project manager, too! As any experienced project manager will tell you, a poor testing strategy leads to poor quality results and very upset project sponsors. Symptoms of this well-known viral infection are the raising of voices and high patient irritability.

My recommendation on developing a test strategy is to start early. Think it through. White board it with key project team members and end-users. It is amazing what great resources these people are if we just ask them for help. Now to reality--in many cases the project manager puts this critical project management piece off until it is time to go to testing, then pulls an all-nighter to get it done. The result is an ineffective test strategy that has not been communicated to the project or test team. A test plan is hastily drawn up. The test team then wastes a lot of time setting up the test environment and then starting the testing. The project clock is running, the deliverable is due...testing gets pushed. You know …

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