A Test Manager's Wish List - Top 5 Items

When we talk to a test manager, first he/she complains; after some point, their wish list starts coming out. The test manager wants something that is not there now, but can be implemented across teams; yet the test manager feels that it may not happen in near future. Looks like never-ending chase!

1. One single system for all my test assets. But branded tools are costly; my management rules those out when I give a quote. They do not understand my problem of dealing with so many spreadsheets and emails!

What is the real problem here? It takes time to get even the simplest metrics. Also it always gives doubt whether the data in the spreadsheets are 100% correct or not. The recurring pain of manually reviewing the same and making charts out of it, drains my energy at EOD; oh,,I have a con-call tonight to attend and present these metrics once again!

2. Status of test execution and bug fixes must be fully visible to all. Every day I need to collate all status reports, (btw, I have become a super user of copy-paste technique!). So many status mails and sugar-coated wordings by my test leads to protect their team members, sluggish fix updates by developers...I feel I do not have full control on the testing status. If I have a system that tells me, what tests are executed till the last minute, I will be the happiest person in this world.

3. Ready charts and reports with just 1 click. I know my boss appreciates one specific report and chart; if that reaches his/her inbox every night, I am assured of a great appraisal. The test management system that I have does not have that report; hence I export data, massage it and make the report and chart. I am good type-setter as well.

4. Automatic Alerts when something goes very bad. I do too many things. I cannot keep track of everything. But my blackberry or mobile alerts me when a new alert email comes. If build is not deployed or a show stopper happens or 2 testers do not update execution status for last 2 hours, I must be notified. Can someone do that for me?

5. Traceability of tests and requirements. Holy grail of testing. I must know coverage at any given point of time. People write 1000 test cases, but my business team says the test coverage is poor. Again I need some magic medicine.

There is a clear solution for this. Softsmith heard these lines so often from so many people and developed QAMonitor. This tool is aimed at satisfying these top 5 wish list items for FREE to micro organizations with less than 25 employees and at a throw away price to small and medium enterprises.

Please visit http://www.freeqamonitor.com.

Simple steps to improve testing process

Every time, we meet customers, we do hear that every stakeholder in the project conveys the message "there are gaps in our process", "we do not follow processes seriously", etc. etc. What surprises me is that, their senior management listens to that with a smile! If there is a process problem in crediting their salary, will they tell the same reason?

Here are some simple steps to improve testing process, if you feel that you are not happy with your current process.

1. Foremost complaint is "We do not get proper requirements specs from any teams!". In this case, let the testers go one extra mile. Someone has to bell the cat. Let the testing team simply write use cases or features list after dev team gives demo or build; let the testing team ask for green signal on the piece of specs that they wrote. Put the blame on the business analyst and project manager. Someone will review and get back to you. Take it from me. If you do this a few times, you can see a positive attitude change in your dev team. As a good side effect, a few of your testers can easily grow as business analyst.

2. If your testing team members do assume a lot on specs and write bad tests or write unwanted tests, do this. For every change request or build release instructions, ask every tester to come up with just 1 clarification needed. Reward a good one. This will motivate the team. If testers stop asking clarifications, there is something wrong, for sure. Give a target, every requirement or CR must have at least 1 clarification needed.

3. Testers do not write test cases. They try only adhoc tests. If this is your problem, try this medicine. Ask every tester to first write "what to test" - kind of test conditions or test scenarios. For 1 week or 2 weeks, do not ask them to write test cases. Make them to write only test conditions. This must not take much time. You review the same and point out where they make mistakes. This will give a jump start for testers who do not write test documentation. Once they get to the normalcy of writing test conditions, load them with test cases as well.

4. Bug reports do not have proper information. If this is the problem, here is a simple solution. Ask every tester to talk about the bugs they found, the next day and not on the same day. They might have forgotten many details about the bug; then you ask logical questions and make them understand what they miss in bug reports. They will realize and change.

5. Because of so many problems, test leads do not present proper status. In this case, spreadsheets and emails will not solve the problem. Use a test management tool. Some of the tools are HP's Quality Center, Rational IBM Test Manager or Softsmith's QAMonitor.

Imagine, you send good status to your management with charts like this?

For more information on this tool, QAMonitor, please visit www.freeqamonitor.com.