Identifying the benefits of Testing
Testing has evolved. From being an activity that “just had to be done” to a profession. And
from just a profession to a fizzing profession with its own methods, tools and techniques
on test execution, management and even on strategic levels. Still, a question often posed
to the test professionals is: “Why does testing cost so much money?”.
This article suggests another way of calculating the benefits of testing. One, in which the costs saved are not directly related to failures (expected to be) found, but to risks. It adds to a technique we as testers use already: risk and requirement based testing.
What we as testers have been doing in the past years, is finding out the risks involved in applications and linking a test priority to that risk and the associated requirement(s). Is the risk high? And is the requirement(s) an absolute must? Then it is something that must be tested!
The process of finding risks and prioritising them has evolved in the years past. Before, it was common practice to interview one or more stakeholders and discuss the risks involved in the application. This has evolved into the practice of interviewing stakeholder management not regarding specific risks, but regarding the risks on a conceptual level: All management involved (stakeholders) together create a “risk thermometer” specific for their organisation. With risk being defined as probability times impact, management is asked which high level impact(s) they can envisage for the application(s) under test. Being smart testers, we do not only ask for impact in terms of money, but also in terms of loss of image and noncompliance to law or regulations.
Including the minimum and maximum cost of a risk occurring will take some time in the early stages of a test project, when discussing the organisation specific risk model with stakeholder management and specific risks with stakeholder staff.
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