Kickstart test checklist per technology
New technologies pop up every time and change the way we deliver projects. One of the things that remains constant is the need for verification. Testing. With the rise of these technologies, the question ‘How to test this?’ should constantly be asked as it will be the catalyst for how the test suite for that specific tech will look like.
Unfortunately, testing is not on many people’s mind when introducing or preview experimenting new technologies. That is why it would be useful to come up with a rudimentary checklist of tests that are specific for that technology. They could be categorized by type (unit, integration, security, performance…). If this checklist exists, it could be the first place people can look and check if their project verifies this. It could act as a trigger for a change of mind.
'Get out of this mess' procedures
While a checklist helps with projects to increase the test coverage (not code coverage), in a lot of situations the project implementation grew a lot more than the tests every did. Many many times, the tests are behind and require an effort to get back on track with the implementation. That code often remains untested is a fact.
Introducing a set of procedures that start with describing a certain problematic situation and provide several solutions to turn the situation around, can help architects and QA engineers with planning as testing needs to be placed back on the agenda. The solutions could span from cost-intensive to guidelines on how the team should change their behavior. It is wrong to think that when the tests are back on track, the test investment can be stopped. In no time the team will again find themselves in a mess.
FAQ on testing
Tests are often not written due to some stubborn arguments that are almost becoming mantra’s. ‘But only the test will use it’, ‘It takes too much time’, ‘It is not interested for the client’… Maybe without our knowing, they are the anti-principles within the workings of a project. Reasons to stop testing.
If we acknowledge this problem, list these concerns specifically and provide context/response, we give architects and testers more fuel to argument their position and effort. The need to write tests.
Conclusion
Testing is probably the most important, most known part of programming that is often neglected. Even starters have an idea of what testing is, yet it is often absent in senior-developed projects. Starting up with a QA testing knowledge base could be the first step in gathering all the information on testing. The next step could be these ideas that facilitate a more test-minded way of working, while acknowledging the reality of the situation.
Thanks for reading.
Stijn
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