|
Interview Question : How can it be known when to stop testing?
Answer : Use risk analysis, along with discussion with project stakeholders,
to determine where testing should be focused.
Since it's rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an
application, every possible combination of events, every
dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis
is appropriate to most software development projects. This requires
judgement skills, common sense, and experience. (If warranted,
formal methods are also available.) Considerations can include:
Which functionality is most important to the project's intended purpose? Which functionality is most visible to the user? Which functionality has the largest safety impact? Which functionality has the largest financial impact on users? Which aspects of the application are most important to the customer? Which aspects of the application can be tested early in the development
cycle? Which parts of the code are most complex, and thus most subject
to errors? Which parts of the application were developed in rush or panic mode? Which aspects of similar/related previous projects caused problems? Which aspects of similar/related previous projects had large
maintenance expenses? Which parts of the requirements and design are unclear or
poorly thought out? What do the developers think are the highest-risk aspects of
the application? What kinds of problems would cause the worst publicity? What kinds of problems would cause the most customer
service complaints? What kinds of tests could easily cover multiple functionalities? Which tests will have the best high-risk-coverage to
time-required ratio?
Interview Question Category : Testing - General
|
