F10 – 602: Test Faster: Model Your Process to Test Faster

Track: Test Strategy & Process

Our test team was presented with a challenge, cut the test duration from 12 weeks down to 4 weeks. When presented with this challenge, we resisted. Our brainstorming sessions turned into justifications of the status quo and explanations of why it’s an impossible task. We’ve always needed every minute of those 12 weeks, so of course 4 weeks was impossible. The break-through came when we built a model of the time we spent in the system test phase. That model allowed us to break the large, complex problem into a series of smaller, easier to implement solutions. The model we developed expressed the testing duration as a function of:

  • Number of test cycles
  • Number of test cases
  • Rate which we could execute manual tests
  • Number of defects we will find and handle
  • Rate which we handle the defects
  • Number of people on our test team

Now, instead of racking our brains on how to reduce the duration from 12 weeks, we could focus on a single variable at a time. For example, “how can we reduce the number of test cases executed, while maintaining the same quality levels?” Asking these questions were more productive, and lead to a number of changes that we implemented. In the end, we succeeded in achieving a 4 week system test cycle, resulting in delivering more value to our customers, faster. Learn how we created the model based on our processes and practices, and how we used the model to create a series of smaller & easier problems to solve. The session will also briefly describe the techniques utilized.

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Session Speaker:

John RubertoJohn Ruberto – Software Quality Leader for QuickBooks Online, Intuit, Inc
John Ruberto has been developing software in a variety of roles for 24 years. He has held positions ranging from development and test engineer to project, development, and quality manager. He has experience in Aerospace, Telecommunications, and Consumer software industries. Currently, he is the Software Quality Leader for QuickBooks Online for Intuit, Inc. He received a B.S. in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, an M.S. in Computer Science from Washington University, and an MBA from San Jose State University.