STAG is launching two new workshops in the “HBT Series” in May 2010. We thank our participants of Robust Test Design workshop conducted in Chennai, for suggesting that we come with a new workshop for “How to understand customer expectations rapidly” . Thank you!
The workshops are:
- Rapid understanding of customer expectations on May 27, 2010 at Bangalore and on June 7 at Chennai.
- Effective review of test cases on May 28, 2010 at Bangalore and June 8, 2010 at Chennai.
Workshop details:
Rapid understanding of customer expectations (1-day workshop)
Objective: How to rapidly understand expectations/requirements of the software to be validated in a scientific manner.
Target audience: Test manager, Project manager, Test lead, Test Engineers
To test effectively, estimate correctly, a good understanding of the software/application is very important. The act of understanding is a high maturity skill requiring multiple skills. Domain knowledge is seen as a critical enabler to good understanding. Good documentation of the requirements is also a key ingredient. In real life however, the available documentation of requirements/specifications always lacks the details required for effective testing, and is typically not in sync with the software/system being built. Therefore the test staff with their domain knowledge is expected to come up with good questions and clarify the missing elements and understand the intended behaviors. This is easier said that done, as deep domain knowledge is typically a scarce commodity.
This workshop takes a scientific approach to “act of understanding the intentions or expectations” by identifying key elements required of any requirement/specification and identifying a personal process powered by scientific concepts to ensure that we rapidly understand the intentions and identify the missing elements.
The first two stages of Hypothesis-based testing(HBT) methodology focuses on “Understanding expectations” and “Understand context”, this is powered by the “Business Value Understanding” discipline of STEM, the underlying defect detection technology that powers HBT. This discipline employs seven scientific concepts to enable that the various aspects to understand the expectations can indeed be done in a scientific manner.
This has been successfully used by STAG in its engagements to rapidly identify questions to understand expectations. To quote a specific instance, a two-liner requirement spawned 40+ questions rapidly, that when clarified allowed us to understand the requirement in about hour. In fact, this uncovered issues in the product being built, as certain aspects of the requirements were completely missed by the developers in their implementation. It is to be noted that our ability to identify questions and therefore understand were not due our domain skills, it was purely due to the application of HBT methodology powered by the defect detection technology(STEM) to the problem at hand.
The topics covered in this workshop are:
- How to create the big picture and get a good overall view (Landscaping)
- Identifying end users and their needs
- Identifying business requirements and corresponding technical requirements
- Identifying critical attributes and ensuring that they are testable
- Understanding the usage patterns/operational profile
- Identifying business risks and prioritization
- Understanding intended behaviors for designing test scenarios/cases
- Formulating cleanliness criteria
The participants will be able to create a User type list, Requirement list, Operational profile, Interaction matrix, Cleanliness criteria and key questions to understanding expectations at the end of this workshop.
The delivery style will be application oriented, an application will be used to illustrate the concepts and the process of doing.
Each participant will be given a HBT cookbook (NEW!) in addition to the workshop slide set and application case study.
Effective review of test cases (1-day workshop)
Objective: How to assess effectiveness, completeness, consistency and future automation-ability of test cases.
Target audience: Test leads and Test engineers
Test effectiveness is a function of the quantity and quality of test scenarios/cases. The difficult aspect is assessing if the designed scenarios/cases are indeed adequate. As always, a deep domain and technical knowledge is seen as a critical aspect to effectively review the test scenarios/cases. The challenging part is that deep domain/technical skills is always in short supply.
This workshop teaches a scientific approach to assess the quality of test scenarios/cases by applying a goal centered to testing – “What types of defects should I detect”?. Commencing with identification of potential defect types that will impact the customer experience, the designed scenarios/cases are analyzed for fault coverage in addition to requirements coverage. HBT powered by STEM has a clear structure for effective test scenarios/cases (TS/TC) and this is the basis for assessment of the scenarios/cases. The STEM Test Case Architecture (STEM-TCA) architecture slices the scenarios/cases is multiple ways and allows one to see the gaps in the designed scenarios/cases. For example STEM-TCA requires TS/TC to be segregated by potential defect types and then by quality levels and then by test types, by conformance vs robustness, by importance and other attributes. This approach enables a scientific enquiry process and allows one to assess rapidly and effectively without totally relying on the domain knowledge.
STAG has used this successfully in its boutique service offering of “Test case re-engineering” in its engagements to increase coverage(i.e. defect finding ability) significantly with its customers. One such interesting work is listed in our blog “Re-architecting test assets increases test coverage by 250%.” In addition, STAG has used these concepts to assess completeness of TS/TC for its Japanese customers in their “Diagnostics & control” solution offering.
At the end of workshop you will able to review the designed scenarios/cases rapidly & effectively enabling you to “produce better bait” to catch the fish! I.e defect defects. The information content of test scenarios/cases plays a vital part of in embarking on successful automation to improve efficiencies. Moving from effectiveness, the workshop will be also enable assessing the efficiency aspect of the testing I.e how can I order and deliver design assets that will enable faster testing. This is addressed in the assessment of TS/TC on the automation-fitness aspect.
The topics covered in this workshop are:
- Understanding the goal of TS/TC i.e. what types of defects should we detect?
- Assessing basic completeness using RTM(Requirement traceability matrix)
- Understanding the caveat of RTM i.e. it is necessary but sufficient enough
- Creating fault traceability matrix
- Understanding the STEM-TCA
- Identifying information needed for assessment
- The personal assessment process for effectiveness and efficiency of TS/TC
- Understanding the distribution of conformation-oriented(positive) vs robustness (negative)oriented over the various levels of test
- Limitations of black box techniques
- What information related to internal aspects of the software do I need to know i.e. how to use white box techniques effectively
- Metrics that are useful to substantiate the assessment like Test breadth, Test depth and Test granularity
The participants will be able to a create clear assessment report with appropriate metrics to judge the efficacy and efficiency aspects at the end of this workshop.
The delivery style will be application oriented implying test scenarios/case of an real-life application will be used to illustrate the concepts and the process of doing.
Each participant will be given a HBT cookbook (NEW!) in addition to the workshop slide set and application case study.
Both these workshops are limited to a maximum of 25 participants on first-come basis. Email learning at stagsoftware dot com for registration or for more information. We are excited about launching these two unique workshops and look forward to interacting with you.
Click here to download the HBT Series of Workshops brochure.