Process Improvement

Improving the Test Process In the Software V&V course, Prof. Uwe asked the question: How to improve the Testing Process?

Improving the Test Process (2) Some answers: 1. Develop a test strategy 2. Use Guidance such as:  checklists  guidelines  templates 3. Improve communication >> How to improve communication? 4. Learn from past experience >> How to consistently learn from the past?

How to Improve Communication? Review:  Request a review of the testing plan  Don't wait for a request Benefits of Review  Improves understanding between members  Team members learn from each other (knowledge transfer)  Improve motivation & sense of participation  Chance to involve senior developers who don't have time to involve directly in testing

What is a Review?

How to Conduct a Review

Inspection  Systematic approach to examining a program (work product) in detail  Goal is to assess the quality of the software product not the quality of the process ensure program is correct verify coding standard

Handling complexity  Use divide and conquer  Examine small parts

Three techniques  checklist Problems with Checklists: questions too general instruction missing detection biased towards previous defects

Three techniques  Use cases check that each object is capable of responding correctly to all scenarios forces the inspector to consider the context in which an object is used interaction diagram is useful create scenarios...

Three Techniques  Abstraction driven start with least dependent class create a natural language abstraction for each part (method) analyze interdependencies between classes analyze dependencies between methods reverse engineer an abstract spec for each method