perspectives on improving productivity in test engineering

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Perspectives onImprovingproductivity in test engineering

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Key challenges that we face

Continuous refinement of business requirements

Need to deliver software in shorter timeframes

Technology continues to evolve rapidly

Shortage of highly skilled people

Tight budgets, more expected with less

Customer expectations on quality constantly increasing

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The focus of this presentation…

Productivity is about 1. Doing things faster2. Doing things with lesser effort

How can we improve test engineering productivity to - perform testing quicker? - do with lesser effort and therefore lower costs?

The typical ways to productivity improvement seem to be >> Reduce test cycle effort by being ‘agile’ >> Squeeze more cycles to minimize surprises later >> Focus on automated tests to speed up cycles

.. is to discuss on the productivity aspects of test engineering

Let us see this problem from a different perspective…




What should a good system have?

The three important properties are : Effectiveness, Consistency, Efficiency

A good system therefore must be effective (find good defects), consistent (able to scale), efficient (do more with less)

For a test engineering system:

Effectiveness implies “Find key business issues”

Consistency implies “Outcome is independent of who does it”

Efficiency implies “Do in shortest time with least money”

Note that the order is effective first, consistent next & efficient finally




How is productivity linked to these properties?

Doing things better implies less re-work.Serious productivity gain!Lowers cost and time!

Implies that the process can be broken down.Allows for simplification & hence de-skilling.Lowers cost!

Speed up using technology/tooling.Lowers cycle time!

Effectiveness

Consistency

Efficiency




How to ensure that these properties are met?

Effectiveness

Consistency

EfficiencyTechnology

Process

MethodologyScientific basis of thinking

Clear way of doing at personal & organization level

Appropriate tooling to reduce cycle time & do more




Consider an example of travel…

…where our productivity enhancement objective is to reach the destination in shorter time at lower cost.

How can we reach the destination in shorter time? To reduce travel time; we need a higher horsepower car, a lighter vehicle, a skilled driver, a shorter route, less de-tour, light traffic, & no speed bumps.

Can we see parallels to test engineering?

1. Higher horsepower implies “strong method” & better technology/tooling.2. Lighter vehicle implies lowering the complexity by better decomposition.3. Straight roads/no speed bumps implies better visibility (metrics) & agility.4. Shorter route means process adjustment/optimization at individual level.




How can we improve productivity?

Ensure appropriate technology/tooling for observation/stimulation.For mundane tests, be sure of ROI.Be clear of what quality levels need automation.Automation is development, pay attention to architecture/code.

Lower complexity by decomposing problems better.Be goal driven, by being defect centric.Ensure test case completeness via engineering approach.Use a judicious mix of static & dynamic evaluation approach..See things clearly with goal-focused metrics system.React faster, with quicker feedback.

Create a good ‘personal process’.Decompose process to de-skill.Cut wasteful documentation.

Proce

ss

‘consis

tency

’

Meth

odology

‘effec

tiven

ess’

Tooling

‘efficie

ncy’




Resource viewpoint on productivity

Extra resource is handy to reduce cycle time, reduce effort.Look at the various resources at our disposal and their cost implications

Human intellect – BIGGEST resourceCan we harness more from this? Mature ones cost a lot!

How can we improve maturity? A scientific & engineering methodology would help.

Technology & ToolsTechnology to observe, probe, analyzeTooling to reach the innards that a human hand cannot reach!Tooling to free our mind, hands & eyes!

Process & ArtifactsPersonal process of thinking and doingTest support stuff – checklists, guidelines, patternsFiner decomposition to aid de-skilling




Hypothesis Based Testing (HBT)

A scientific personal test methodology to deliver clean software.

Powered by EIGHT disciplines of “thinking”

Consists of SIX stages of “doing”

More at www.slideshare.net/stagsoft/an-introduction-to-hypothesis-based-testing



http://www.slideshare.net/stagsoft/an-introduction-to-hypothesis-based-testing







Convert expectations to cleanliness criteria, setup a goal of potential types of defects to uncover and scientifically uncover them.

More at www.slideshare.net/stagsoft/an-introduction-to-hypothesis-based-testing










Summarizing...

Tooling & process improvement may increase productivity in a limited manner.

A better basis for doing things can be significant productivity enhancer.

The key resource is our intellect,improve this and we have significant productivity boost

Process is at various levels, improve thinking process and this can lead to productivity gains




Thank you!

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