Reviewing Your Testing Strategy – How to Do It Right?

The Benefits of Using a Strategic Approach to Software Testing

Let’s take a step back and start with some theory. What does a strategic approach to software testing mean, and how does it influence the development at the core?

Strategic thinking is the ability to move away from the epicenter of your current project at the time and looking at a bigger picture. To be more clear, strategic thinking is what helps you understand what is important for a project both now and in the future. It prepares the firm background for scaling and growth. And it works this way for all industries and fields.

In quality assurance, a strategic approach gives the team a clear sense of direction. By outlining the plans in test strategy documents, a QA specialist explains the journey towards software quality to the team members and stakeholders. As a result, the team gets a long-term plan designed to achieve their objectives and a methodology for executing this plan.

Of course, test planning and test strategy don’t guarantee you will be able to predict everything. You just set the course. There may be alterations on the way. Still, it is much easier to move in the right direction when you already have the backbone for further decisions.

Remember this when communicating the benefits of a strategic approach to software testing to the development team and stakeholders.

Why Do We Need a Testing Strategy?

A testing strategy isn’t just another document. In the software testing life cycle, it is a mirror of all QA actions. During the test execution process, refer to it and stick to the plan until the software is released.

Some agile teams reduce the number of strategy documents they write since their primary focus is on test execution rather than documentation. However, having a basic test strategy always aids in proper planning and mitigating project risks. All high-level activities can be captured and documented by agile teams to finish test execution on time and without errors.

Who Should Review a Testing Strategy?

Software development is a dynamic process. Thus, it’s critical to regularly set aside time to reassess the test approach. In particular, a QA specialist who writes a testing strategy should:

• analyze the existing situation;
• evaluate what progress has been accomplished;
• determine where the team stands;
• think on how to improve the strategy;
• and then outline the actions needed to achieve objectives.

A software tester’s job is to convey information about a product’s quality, risks, and test coverage to the decision-makers. Altogether, it enables stakeholders to make better decisions about what to automate or evaluate on other levels, allowing them to take a more holistic approach to risk management.

All entities participating in project management, the business team, and the development team, are to sign off on the QA strategy once all these activities are outlined. So technically, a QA specialist reviews a document to keep it up to date. Then, other stakeholders review an updated version to get familiar with those changes and authorize them.

It is essential for all team members to understand that a testing strategy is a living document, especially if we are talking about long-term projects. It means that QA specialists should come back to reviewing a strategy occasionally and update it as software grows or business priorities change. Reviewing also helps to discover bias or aspects built on assumptions.

On What Areas to Focus During the Review?

Software testing strategies include the entire project scope detailing the following:

• test objectives;
• test coverage;
• time estimations;
• scheduling;
• resource management;
• test environment;
• execution of test types (e.g. automating regression testing);
• automation tools;
• and risk analysis with contingencies.

However, there are specific areas that should be revisited because of their significance and impact on the whole testing process.

QA Strategy – What`s Inside?

Goals

It may seem self-evident, but it is critical to ensure the project and product goals are aligned with test planning and objectives. Pay attention to the following points.

• There always has to be a shared vision of where the strategy is heading.
• There should also be a shared awareness of present problems, the quality criteria, requirements, regulations, and standards that have to be met.
• Examine how software quality factors like performance efficiency, maintainability, usability, compatibility, and accessibility are evaluated.
• Make sure the attributes that are most important to end users and stakeholders are prioritized.

Current Risks and Problems

Review what is being tested, and how successfully or inadequately it is being carried out along with what isn’t being tested noting the context and constraints like a lack of time.

Assess how early testing is getting involved and if testing efforts are being designated to areas where they could be most useful. Is testing being done in production and is information being acquired through logs, and monitoring tools?

Time

The timeframe between when a new feature is introduced and when it reaches the user is the most critical factor to constantly evaluate. The key goal is to figure out how to make this statistic better (which is the one that matters most to the business). Then, check for any waste, whether it’s time or quality, and see what tools could be used and what process changes could be made.

Metrics

Using the correct metrics and KPIs to your benefit is an important aspect of reviewing a testing strategy. Quality assurance activities are continually looking for methods to deliver additional information that will reduce uncertainty and improve risk control. That information, however, has to be properly examined.

Choose metrics that help improve the team’s performance. The amount of bugs reported should not be the main focus because it may lead to your team focusing on less important areas. You can consider using the following metrics:

• user satisfaction;
• development, cycle, and lead time;
• test coverage;
• code quality;
• issue severity;
• test automation reliability;
• and performance.

QA Resources

Another fundamental part of a testing strategy is to be clear on how the team is made up.

• What are the interactions between team members like?
• Do changes to team members affect regular interactions?
• Does everyone know each other’s roles and skill sets?
• What is everyone’s participation throughout the different development phases?
• Is it well-defined who is planning, creating, and automating test cases at different levels, and who is gathering, prioritizing, and processing feedback as early as possible?

Other Considerations

There are some other things to consider when reviewing a test strategy – the processes that impact the time allocated for testing. To make sure deadlines won’t affect product quality but contribute to improvements:

• Ask whether it would be useful to do pair reviews or pair programming.
• Review the method for managing technical debt and whether static code verification technologies are employed.
• Remember about reviewing the CI/CD process. It is vital because to maintain pipelines up to date, free of obsolete things. Thus, it is significant to evaluate the entire procedure, not just specific parts.
• Prioritize visibility over code management and branching. In particular, adding automatic validations to the various stages of development and testing process is key to efficient and reliable delivery. It also helps to expose risks in code quality.
• Examine how you’re using test environments and if there is anything to enhance. It’s also crucial to examine the platforms via which users access the product and verify that testing is carried out in the same way.

Conclusion

The goal of reviewing a test strategy is to make sure you have covered all the bases and to seek out the unknown unknowns. Continuous review of automation and manual software testing efforts, taking into account the size and expertise level of your team will help ensure you are always on track to achieve the objectives set out in the QA strategy.

All stakeholders should sign off the reviewed document, confirming they are aware of the updates and approve them. However, a QA specialist – a QA Lead or a software tester – is the one who writes and reviews the strategy.

To do it effectively, consider all the requirements and testing methods that will be employed. Make a list of all the actions needed throughout the testing phase and establish what must be completed based on your testing strategy. Apply your critical thinking skills. Set-up quality communication with developers and stakeholders.

Rely on your experience in the QA and work with a bigger picture in mind. Then, reviewing a testing strategy will be a curious puzzle to solve rather than a tough challenge.