Managing the Testing Process: Practical Tools and Techniques for Managing Hardware and Software Testing

11.4. Managing the Testing Process: A Retrospective Conclusion

Whew! That's it. Just the case studies and exercises at the end of this chapter to go, and you have finished the book. (The Glossary and the appendices are more for your reference than to read word for word.) I hope you enjoyed reading this second edition of Managing the Testing Process as much as I enjoyed writing it. Before you put it down, though, let me spend a few final paragraphs looking back at the book and putting it all in context.

A couple of my test management course attendees remarked, at the end of the seminar, "Nice course, but where was the test process?" I responded that the entire course was about the test process, but then I realized that I've really told the story from the inside without ever looking at it from the outside.

To tie this all together, let me outline a test process as it might appear from the outside, and refer each piece of that process back to the chapter that addressed it.

1. Create a context for testing.

   1. Understand the broader context of the testing effort (Chapter 11).

   2. Assess and prioritize the risks to system quality (Chapter 1).

   3. Estimate testing tasks, cost, and time (Chapters 1 and 11).

   4. Develop a test plan (Chapter 2).

   5. Assemble the testers (Chapters 8 and 10).

   6. Build the test system (Chapter 3) and the test environment (Chapters 6 and 7).

2. Assess the quality of the system under test.

   1. Acquire a test release (Chapter 2).

   2. Execute tests (Chapters 3, 5, and 6).

   3. Document test results (Chapters 4 ...