Dealing With Delays Impacting Software Testing

We have all been there, on a project where thesome parts early, increases the testing window
inevitable has happened. You guessed it, the codeand enables recovery of some of the lost time.
is late into testing, delivered at the 11th hour.(3) Apply a risk based testing technique. Test the
Entry criteria has come under threat and possiblyhigh risk elements of the application first and work
been ignored completely. Your test environmentthrough the testing in order of risk. When time
has been delivered but remains unproven as theruns out, this should mean that the only the items
code has not been available. The Project Managerof lower risk have been omitted.
has been harassed by the business stakeholders(4) Increase the hours being worked by the
for the development delay and is not interested inteam. Look at options around overtime and
your problems. IT Management are pressing toweekend working. If using offshore capabilities
see the project delivered on time and to top it all,then look at working two days in one. (A word of
Marketing have arranged for a campaign launch towarning at this point, if the testers are working,
occur on the prescribed delivery date. As thethey need to be supported by the environment
Test Manager, you are now the primary obstaclesupport staff and the developers. Testing alone
to go live; the success of the project is resting onwill only increase the flow of defects making it
your shoulders. Oh yes, and your six week testingharder for development to keep up and an
window has been reduced to four.environment issue could stop all out of hours
This is the stress (no pun intended), of the testwork.)
execution phase. Not only are you now required(5) Consider overlapping some of the testing
to think out of the box in order to complete thephases. E.g. If UAT is being run as a separate
testing, but you must also be thinking at a farphase, after functional testing, look at overlapping
wider level than just testing. There are actionssome of the UAT with the functional testing that
that can be taken at a project level which canis occurring.
make a massive difference to the work of the(6) Ensure that there is a high focus on defect
testers.prioritisation by the business. Make sure the
Let's start by looking at this from the widerdevelopers are fixing what needs to be fixed first.
perspective. I remember a situation on a very(Don't ignore severity at this point.)
early project I was managing. Sat in a project(7) Monitor defect turnaround. If the development
progress meeting and being asked how we couldhas arrived late it is indicative of problems and a
test with an execution window reduced from fourslow defect turnaround will cripple the project and
weeks to two. I dug my heels in and refused towhilst testing may complete, whilst the exit
budge, resulting in a separate meeting immediatelycriteria will have been corrupted.
afterwards with the PM, being instructed that this(8) Can more environments be made available?
was not the right course of action and gettingThere is likely to already be a requirement for
some early tuition in the art of testing.multiple environments, but if you begin overlapping
Back to our problem, there are several actionstest phases, functional with non-functional, with
that can be taken at project level to help with theUAT, then the volume of environments needed
situation and it may be possible to assist the PMmay increase.
by making some recommendations. (1) Does the(9) Carry out a review of the exit criteria for the
application all need to be placed live? Are thereproject. Bear in mind that this was set prior to
any aspects of the application that could be putthe problems occurring and although they are the
live as part of a second release, reducing thedesired outcome, some compromise may need to
scope of the testing required? (2) Can the releasebe reached. Work out what is acceptable and
occur to internal users only? This minimises thedon't forget that if coverage is reduced, the
risk of damage in the event of productionnumbers of defects are indicative of only a
defects, meaning that exit criteria may bepercentage of the testing. i.e. 80% coverage,
reviewed. (3) Can additional development effortmeans that you have possibly only have
be applied to recover whilst in development?discovered 80% of the defects and it is good to
Regardless of the answers at a project level, theassume that 20% remain unfound.
following can be applied by the Test Manager toActions (2), (3) and (5) above, all increase risk in
handle the situation from within testing:some manner. Ensure that the project and
(1) Insert the testers into the development teamstakeholders have agreed to these risks and that
and increase the unit and integration in the smallwhere possible mitigating actions are in place.
testing. Improve the quality before it hits testing,To summarise, there are many actions that can
reducing the volume of defects found andbe taken within testing to deal with a slippage,
therefore the duration.whilst maintaining the original delivery date. Don't
(2) Consider taking components of the applicationforget the project elements that can make a
that are finished, prior to the arranged deliverydifference. I am sure there are more but do
date. It is likely that there are only certain partsensure that all aspects are being looked at and
of the application that are causing the delay andonly then start to compromise on the testing.
not the entirety of the application. Bringing in