Course

This 4 day course provides delegates with practical test management skills, using a hands-on approach based on group exercises and discussions. At the end of the course delegates should be confident in their ability to apply best test management practices on their own projects.

Audience

Intended for those who will be involved in: Overall management of the test process, control and monitoring of stage(s) within the test process and Managing Incidents.

Syllabus – Key points

The course will cover the following aspects of practical test management:

Test management in an organizational context

• Policy
• Organizational test strategy
• Testing within the organizational structure
• Aligning with a customer’s test policy and strategy

Test management in a project and life cycle context

• Relationship of test management to project management
• Matching test approaches to different life cycles (e.g. sequential, iterative and agile)
• Development vs. maintenance projects
• Dealing with emergency changes
• Project versus specific test phase activities

Reporting

• Reporting methods and communication styles
• Test status, test summary & test completion reports

Test processes

• Project test management, phase test management and fundamental test processes
• Activities across the test processes
• Roles and responsibilities
• ISO 29119

High –level planning

• Work breakdown structures

Risk management and testing

• Risk planning
• Risk identification
• Risk estimation
• Risk treatment

Test planning

• Building test plans (master/project and level test plans)
• IEEE 829 & ISO 29119
• Defining the project test strategy
• Selection of test techniques, test types and test completion criteria
• Engaging stakeholders
• The effect of regulatory standards
• Estimation & scheduling

Test resourcing

• Tester skills profiles and test teams
• Outsourcing & offshoring
• Test tools – selection & implementation
• Test environments
• Configuration & incident management

Monitoring and control

• Monitoring activities
• Metrics and evidence
• Control activities
• Ongoing risk management

Test management on live systems

• Changing the plan
• Updating the risk profile & risk treatment

Test Process Improvement

• Model-based approaches, e.g. TPI, TMMi
• Analytic approaches
• Managing the improvement
• Post implementation review

Course Overview

This 4 day course provides delegates with practical test management skills, using a hands-on approach based on group exercises and discussions. At the end of the course delegates should be confident in their ability to apply best test management practices on their own projects.

The course introduces delegates to the most important test management skills by following the test management for an example project from initial development, planning, day-to-day management and, finally, managing the ongoing testing of the operational system. A risk-based approach is emphasized, based on industry best practice, supported by the latest international standards, but always providing a pragmatic insight into test management. Owing to its interactive nature, each course has a practical maximum of 12 delegates.

It is expected that delegates to this course will have prior experience of working on IT projects, and may come from a variety of backgrounds (e.g. test analysts, project managers, and developers). The course is intended as both an introduction to best practices for those new to test management and a refresher for those more experienced test professionals to the current state of industry thinking.

Course Objectives

• To understand the ‘tools’ required for management and monitoring of the testing process.
• To appreciate the different resources to be managed for each testing phase / stage.
• To appreciate the issues to be addressed when managing a change of requirements or test failure.
• To understand the factors involved in compiling the test completion report.

Information:  

About Practical Test Management

This 4 day course was developed at the specific request of a major systems integration company on the basis that certificated training didn't prepare their test managers or give them all the skills they require to be client facing consultants. The course has proved so successful that we now offer it publicly as a boost or alternative to certificated training for test managers.

Developed by world leaders Dr. Stuart Reid & Isabel Evans, the course takes students on a practical journey of being a test manager. It teaches them the skills they and enforces them through many practical workshops and exercises based on everyday scenarios of being a professional test manager.

This course is a must for the serious test manager and contains learning objectives beyond that of ISTQB Advanced Test Manager and ISEB Practitioner in Test Management.

The Practical Test Management course is also available as a private inhouse course.

Pre Requisites

It is expected that delegates to this course will have prior experience of working on IT projects, and may come from a variety of backgrounds (e.g. test analysts, project managers, and developers). The course is intended as both an introduction to best practices for those new to test management and a refresher for those more experienced test professionals to the current state of industry thinking.