Reducing the Testing Cycle Time through Process Analysis

Because system testing is usually what lies between development and release to the customer-and hopefully more business value or profit-every test team is asked to test faster and finish sooner. Reducing test duration can be especially difficult because many of the factors that drive the test schedule are beyond our control. John Ruberto tells the story of his team’s cutting the system test cycle time from twelve weeks down to four. John shares how they first analyzed the overall test process to create a model of the test duration. This model decomposed the test schedule into six factors: test cycles, number of tests, defects, the rates at which tests were executed and defects handled, tester skills, and the number of testers. By decomposing the test cycle into these variables, their team identified six smaller-and thus easier-problems to solve. Join John as he describes the dozen new techniques and approaches his team ultimately implemented to dramatically shorten their test cycle.