590769 software testing to be or not to be

“Software Testing To Be or Not To Be”

Conference of the Association for Software Testing July 15, 2009

“To be or not to be, that is the question”– William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Neha Thakur

http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/drupal/CAST2009/Register

Copyright © 2009 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.2

• To identify the various stakeholders, their involvement and to strategies the communication and the engagement needs of stakeholders

• To discuss various advantages, challenges and appropriate strategies

Objective


• Introduction• Advantages of identifying and involving stakeholders• Stakeholder analysis• Stakeholder engagement and communication• Challenges• The appropriate strategy

Coverage


Need for testing:• Only testing can demonstrate that quality has been achieved.• Software Testing is an empirical investigation conducted to provide

stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test, with respect to the context in which it is intended to operate.(Source: Wikipedia)

In spite of performing testing, Why major software fails?

Introduction

Fact sheet


• Software bugs are costing the U.S. economy an estimated $59.5 billion each year.(Source: WASHINGTON (COMPUTERWORLD))

• A May 2005 newspaper article reported that a major hybrid car manufacturer had to install a software fix on 20,000 vehicles due to problems with invalid engine warning lights and occasional stalling.

• On June 4 1996, the first flight of the European Space Agency's new Ariane 5 rocket failed shortly after launching, resulting in an estimated uninsured loss of $0.5 billion dollars.

• In early 1999, a major computer game company recalled all copies of a popular new product due to software problems.

Software failures


• Major software fails due to shortfalls in skills to deal with stakeholder value propositions

• Out of six reasons cited for failures, five are related to communications between teams and stakeholders

• Poor planning and bad communication• Scope — stakeholders — goals, we rarely see testers involved to drive

out any ambiguities or inconsistencies in these crucial deliverables

So, what went wrong?

All about stakeholders


Who is a stakeholder?

Are entities who are affected by:• The success or failure of a project • The actions or inactions of a product• The effects of a service

Stakeholder


• Build organizational buy-in, mutual trust, commitment and capability.• Reduced litigation/opposition to project implementation that results from

the plan.• The introduction of new perspectives and diverse interests into the

planning process.• Respect among adversarial advocacy groups and varied stakeholders

across organizations of varied interest with varied POV (point of view)• Incorporation of an open-minded and broad search for creative

alternatives.• Maximize the potential for a successful project from current to future

state.• Ensure the right people receive the right information, at the right time, in

the right way.• Ensure the right people participate at the right time, in the right way.

Advantages of identifying and involving

In order to proactively increase stakeholder commitment to change over time stakeholder engagement is required.


Stakeholder analysis

SDLCmanagement

• Requirements engineering

• Application architecture and design

• Data modeling• Coding and unit testing• Test definition• Test execution• Go live!• Transition

Deliverymanagement

• Project initiation• Project planning• Estimation• Project monitoring

and control• Risk action

assumption issues management

• Supplier agreement management

• Change control• Decision analysis

and resolution• Project closure

Qualitymanagement

• Quality assurance• Metrics collection and

reporting• Deliverable review• Defect prevention• Defect management

Figure 1: Structured process area and process list of different management cycles

Microsoft Office Excel 97-2003 Worksheet


Understand your stakeholders:• What is their motivation? • What are their expectations? • What do we expect of them? • Where are they? • How expert are they at what they do? • What is their availability?

Analyze your stakeholders


Examples of categories you could use are:• Decision makers (e.g., sponsors, artifact approvers) • Information providers (e.g., Subject Matter Expertise) • Regulatory (e.g., legal body, Center of excellence) • Implementers (e.g., developers, testers) • End users • Post implementation support (e.g., trainers, managers)

Analyze your stakeholders (cont.)


Stakeholder engagement and communication

Stakeholder assessment• Identify the key

stakeholders of the program and the extent to which they:–Need to be

engaged–Require specific

communication

Stakeholder action plan• Outline a framework

to manage stakeholder engagement and communications throughout the project

Communication plan• Outline the detailed

plan for communicating with key stakeholders throughout the project and establish responsibility for communication

Figure 2: Stakeholder engagement Approach


• Engage stakeholders early and throughout the plan• Plan should build trust over time and should allow for revisiting of the

goals and project implementation• Have a roadmap• Be flexible• Adhere to meeting times• Facilitate the meetings skillfully• Follow up

Fundamentals


Stakeholder engagement strategies

Commitment Level: Commitment & Action

Engagement Strategy: Involve extensively

Commitment Level: Awareness

Engagement Strategy: Keep informed

Commitment Level: Support & buy-in

Engagement Strategy: Enlist as needed

Commitment level: Understanding

Engagement Strategy: Address concerns

Start-up TIME Vision Achieved

Lo

wD

ES

IRE

D C

OM

MIT

ME

NT

Hig

h

Hig

hP

RO

JEC

T IM

PA

CT

^

Lo

w

Low ABILITY TO INFLUENCE§

High

Commitment Level: Advocacy & Ownership

Engagement strategy: Position as Champion

Figure 3:Stakeholder engagement map


Stakeholder engagement plan

StakeholderAbility to influence§

Project impact^

Commitment level

Engagement strategy+ Action planCurrent Desired*

Identify stakeholder group or individual

Categories as High, Medium, or Low

Awareness, Understanding, Support & Buy-in, Commitment & Action, Buy-in & Ownership

Keep informed, Enlist as Needed, Address Concerns, Involve Extensively, Position as Champion

Identify the key activities that will be done to implement the engagement strategy and increase the stakeholder group’s or individual’s commitment throughout the project, as required

Figure 4: Stakeholder engagement assessment and action plan

Ability to Influence§

It is the extent to which the individual has the ability to affect the success of the project

Project Impact^

Extent to which the project affects or will affect the individual

Enrollment Strategy+The higher the desired commitment level, the more the enrollment strategy moves toward positioning an individual/group as champion

Indicators


StakeholderKey concerns/

information needsKey messages

Key vehicles/ mechanisms

Action plan Desired outcomes

Identify stakeholder group or individual

Identified the concerns, sensitivities, or information needs of the stakeholder group or individual as it relates to the project

Identify the key messages required for each stakeholder group or individual

Identify the most effective vehicles and mechanisms for communicating with each stakeholder group or individual

Outline the communication tactics that will be used to deliver the key messages and address concerns

Outline the desired outcomes of these tactics and how they will increase stakeholder commitment

Timing Communication Purpose Audience(s)Vehicle/

mechanismDevelop Deliver Notes

Identify the timing of the message

Identify the name of the communication (e.g., weekly updates, kick-off memo)

Outline the purpose of each communication that will be sent

Identify the core audience for each message

Identify the vehicle or mechanism that will be used to send each message

Identify the individual(s) responsible to develop/ deliver each message

Outline any key assumptions, considerations, or details

Stakeholder communication plan

Figure 6: Stakeholder communication plan

Figure 5: Stakeholder communication needs assessment and action plan


Commitment versus time

Awareness

Individuals have heard that the

Project exists and are aware of basic

scope of the Project and general concepts.

Understanding

Individuals have an appreciation for the

impacts and benefits that the Project will have

on their functional areas.

Acceptance

Individuals are receptive to

working with and implementing

Project changes amid uncertainty.

Engagement

Individuals are actively involved in and contribute to Project activities.

Ownership

Individuals acknowledge that

the Project belongs to them and create innovative ways to use and improve it.

Status quo Time Vision

Co

mm

itm

en

t

Figure 7: Stakeholder commitment versus time graph


• Inadequate communication• Constraints on time and money• Pressures to meet schedules • Inappropriate planning• Little or no monitoring and evaluation process of interaction

Challenges


1. A leading global asset management firm announced merger of equal in late 2006 targeting close in mid 2007. The publicly announced target was more than half a billion dollars in cost reduction fully captured in five years. Deloitte was engaged to assist pre close planning, post close tracking, tools/system/framework development, enterprise wide base lining and non personnel expense execution. The mobilization of cross functional experts/staff and leverage of proprietary benchmarks and methodologies helped the firms successfully delivered/exceeded target slotted for the first six months of closing. In particular, the team achieved 40% cost saving in one major procurement category alone, which involved engaging close to 100 business stakeholders and gathering thousands of detailed specifications.

Stories/Case Study


2. As a small credit union in the Vancouver area, Vancity was founded on principles of community and has won numerous awards for its work around sustainability and climate change. With a re-branding effort that included an opportunity to better highlight its sustainability efforts, Vancity actively engages members and prospective members through new social media channels, member forums, unique brand campaigns, educational activities, and numerous opportunities for stakeholder feedback. As a result, brand preference went up by 30% and Vancity announced that it became carbon-neutral at the end of 2007, two years ahead of plan. As part of this effort, Vancity recorded more than $2 million in cost savings since 1992 through reductions in energy usage alone.

Stories/Case Study


Links/Books/Articles

Software Testing as a Social Science Authored by Cem Kaner

DEVELOPING STAKEHOLDER CONSENSUS Authored by Dan Rodrigo, Paul Brown

Requirements Testing - Creating an Effective Feedback Loop Authored by Suzanne Robertson

Stakeholder Analysis and Communication Plan Deloitte Internal Resources

Stakeholder Engagement Plan Deloitte Internal Resources

“Early Involvement of Testers” http://www.systemsguild.com/GuildSite/JSR/earlytesting.html Authored by James Robertson

http://www.pmhut.com/, http://www.forrester.com/Research

References

http://www.systemsguild.com/GuildSite/JSR/earlytesting.html

http://www.pmhut.com/

http://www.pmhut.com/

http://www.forrester.com/Research

Questions?

Thank you

Contact:[email protected]

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590769 software testing to be or not to be

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