Manage Testing by Dependencies—Not Activities

Traditionally, test management has focused on two areas—test planning and test execution. Test planning creates the test strategy and prepares test cases. Test execution focuses on who is responsible for and assigned to executing the respective test cases and logging defects. These views, however, are not inclusive of everything a tester does. For example, the work of team members must be coordinated, environments made ready, and test data prepared. For this reason, Jim Trentadue says the testing effort should be managed by dependencies—not activities. Jim shares logical models for managing the activities your testers are—and should be—doing to support testing efforts. Learn how to create and manage the relationships between common testing deliverables, such as test cases with dependencies on test data or defects affected by build and environment management work. By focusing on testing activities’ dependencies and relationships, you will be able to better manage your testing efforts across the various testing phases.