Making Numbers Count: Metrics That Matter

As testers and test managers, we are frequently asked to report on the progress and results of our testing. The question “How is testing going?” may seem simple enough, but our answer is ultimately based on our ability to extract useful metrics from our work and present them in a meaningful way. This is particularly important in agile environments, where clear, concise, and up-to-date metrics are potentially needed multiple times per day. Mike Trites identifies a number of ways metrics can be used to measure progress during a test cycle and, ultimately, to determine when to consider testing complete. Learn the common pitfalls that metrics misuse can lead to and how you can avoid them by giving proper context when communicating metrics to your stakeholders. Take back key metrics for measuring the effectiveness of your testing and discover how to use what is learned on one project to improve your testing process on future projects.