Test Management

Course Title: Test Management

Course#: SST08

Duration: 3 days

Description:

The Importance of Strategy and Feedback:
If you develop and implement an effective test strategy, you can successfully manage software test efforts. Successful test management requires the same approach as successful project management:

1. Develop a sound strategy
2. Keep in close touch with the situation
3. Identify and aggressively manage critical issues
4. Modify the strategy as needed, based on situational feedback. 

The key to test management is to know the components of an effective test strategy, including feedback mechanisms, and to recognize critical issues as they surface.

A Management Framework:
This course provides the essential framework for successful test management. It focuses on two critical areas:

1. Creation and management of a successful testing organization and team
2. Development of an effective test strategy.

This strategy is built around the development of two key documents: a comprehensive test plan and corresponding test report.

Audience:

For Anyone Responsible for Software Test Efforts:
This course provides the information necessary for a test manager, supervisor, or senior tester to lead a testing effort. It also provides an outline of good testing methods from the viewpoint of a test manager. This course complements the Systematic Software Testing course, which provides a similar outline of good testing methods from the viewpoint of the test engineer.

Prerequisites:

Participants should have at least six months of leadership experience and two years of test experience.

Topics:

• Testing and Quality
  Goals vs. priorities
  Testing philosophy
  Preventive testing and the STEP™ methodology

• The Test Manager
  Roles of a test manager
  Leadership guidelines
  Ways to obtain buy-In

• Test Teams
  Team organization
  Retaining staff
  Staff development

• Configuration Management
  Library management
  Change control board
  Defect analysis

• Master Test Plan
  Risks and contingencies
  Testing strategy
  Scheduling/estimating

• Testware Design
  Influence of risk
  Design approaches
  Testing without requirements

• Execution Management
  Assessing test effectiveness
  Predicting release dates
  Reporting

• Metrics Primer
  Basic definitions
  Measurement paradigms
  Implementing a metrics program

• Process Benchmarks and Baselines
  What is process assessment?
  ISO, CMM®, TQM, TPI®
  Benchmarking

• Tools
  What to automate
  Tool issues
  Manager's role in tool implementation