EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on The Awful Truth About Estimation, Have I Been Wrong All Along by Ruud Teunissen. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. The Awful Truth About Estimation:
Have I been wrong all along?
Ruud Teunissen, Polteq Test Services
www.eurostarconferences.com
@esconfs
#esconfs
@RuudTeunissen

2. How do you estimate your effort,…
2
… if you don’t know what to do
… if you don’t know how to do it
… if you don’t know who will do it
… if you don’t know where to do it
… if you don’t know with what to do it
… if you don’t know when to do it
…if you don’t know what to do first, last, in between

3. 3

4. 4
Approaches
• Predefined budget
• Industry standard
• Similar projects
• Historical data
• Test Point Analysis TPA®
• Intuition of the experienced tester
TPA® is a registered
trademark of Sogeti

5. 5
Predefined budget

6. 6
Industry Standard
On average XX % of the hours spent on the total
development project is reserved for testing
unit test
integration test
system test
acceptance test
regression test
the rest

7. Similar projects / Historical Data
When you want something
7
you’ve never had,
you have to do something
you’ve never done

8. 8
Test Point Analysis

9. 9

10. 10
Effort Estimation

11. Test Effort
Estimate
11
Strategy
What?
How thorough?
Impact
Complexity?
interaction?
Productivity
How “good” is
my team?
Infra&Tools
How “fast” can
we test?
Expected
Quality
Test object?
Test basis?
Size
How “much”?
Scope?
My “philosophy”

12. Philosophy – Input from the delegates
12

13. 13
Size
• % of project budget
• Size of requirements
• Size of system under test
• Intuition (is it magic after all?)

14. Size – Input from the delegates
14

15. Business Risks  Test Strategy
Consequences of a failing product
Business Risk Aspect to test Priority Probability
3. …
4. …
6. …
5. … Efficiency Low Low  Low
7. … Interoperability Low High  Medium
9. … Usability Medium Medium  Medium
10. … … … …
15
Test
Priority
1. …
Security Medium High  High
8. …
2. …
Accuracy High High  Critical
Detect the most important defects as soon as possible within time and budget
Based on risks

16. Strategy – Input from the delegates
16

17. Ring 2
Ring 1
17
Impact
Core
Each (change to a)
component has a
different impact and
therefore requires a
different test effort
Core Core

18. Impact – Input from the delegates
18

19. 19
Expected quality
• Requirements
• Software Development
– Approach (if any), Life Cycle, Maturity, Experience, …
• Quality Assurance
• Previous experience
– Defects, Test Cycles, …

20. Expected Quality – Input from the delegates
20

21. 21
Infrastructure and tools
• Continuous integration
• Knowledge & Experience
• Timeliness
• Availability
• Representative
• Regulated
• Free format
• Fit for purpose

22. Infra & Tools – Input from the delegates
22

23. 23
Productivity
• Business / Domain Knowledge
• System / Application Knowledge
• Test Knowledge
• Test Experience
• Test Training
• Interpersonal Skills
• Certification?
• Stand alone versus
multidisciplinary
• …

24. Productivity – Input from the delegates
24

25. Questions?

26. About the speaker
Ruud Teunissen
Polteq Test Services, The Netherlands
ruud.teunissen@polteq.com - http://www.polteq.com
Ruud Teunissen is best described as a passionate software tester. Throughout
his career he has played almost any possible role in testing (tester, test
manager, test trainer, coach, sales, manager, test consultant, …) in a variety
of environments and companies. Ruud is coauthor of several books on
structured testing, including Software Testing: A Guide to the TMap®
Approach. Currently he is senior test consultant with Polteq Test Services BV
and focuses on test improvement and management in any context.