1.
The Art Of
(Test) Planning
Meet "The Doctor"
Mission, focus, drive, motivation
Some kind of master plan
Very good improvisational skills
Embraces change
No dogmas
Smart travel companions
Our first holiday abroad: route plan
215gr / 15 min
860gr /Hr
6,5 Kg a day
Monster Planning
Lot of maintenance!
Nobody can understand all those details, so
you concentrate on your own activities
Be prepared to change the plan
Allow the plan to breath
The control freaks' idea:
minute to minute test plan
Monday 09.00 - 09.30: Execute tests 1- 10
Monday 09.30 - 09.45: analyze results
Monday 09.45 - 11.00 am: fix defects
etc....
Maps are better than scripts
Rough map for the whole journey
Detailed map only when needed, for a specific region
No one can understand a detailed
map of the entire world
Train and trust you travel companions
Make sure they can use maps
Don't tell them what to do
But tell them about the goal
In general, targets are moving all the time
Agile planning
Breaking up the problem in smaller pieces
THAT ARE USEFUL FOR SOME CUSTOMER
Horizontal slicing
First deliver database
Then data manipulation layer
Then services
Then GUI
Vertical slicing
First deliver menu screen
Then deliver logon screen
Then deliver import standard customer data
etc...
This is really an art you have to learn
If you think breaking up is not possible, you probably did not try hard enough
Example test plan formats
Worst
Word
Does not really promote collaboration
One way communication
I am the writer, you are the reader
Boring
Many obsolete words
Linear
Better
Powerpoint
Short and brief
Meant to present to others
Promotes dialog
Still linear
Even better
Mindmaps
Invites for real collaboration
Non-linear thinking
Overview AND detail
The process of creating a test plan
Classic Theory
How I prefer
A lean test plan
The 1 page test plan
Word ain't that bad
Mindmap 'demo'
When can we go live?
Don't ask the test manager
When will testing be done?
Testing should take as long as it delivers useful information to some stakeholders
Planning test execution troughput time
Depending on
Amount of tests to run
Number of defects found
Time to repair defects
New defects introduced by repairing
Tip
Plan 'sunny' scenario, assume reasonable #defects
Then make 'SLA's' for defect repair
Monitor, learn, take actions
The Art Of Planning.mmap - 18-9-2017 - Mindjet