Task Descriptor: Identify Test Ideas |
This task describes how to detail the test ideas within a specific context driven by the target test items.
Based on Method Task: Identify Test Ideas
Relationships
Inputs | Mandatory: Test Strategy | Optional: [Software Design] [Software Implementation] [Technical Architecture] [Technical Specification] Test Ideas List | External: None
Outputs | Test Ideas List
Steps
Identify Relevant Test Motivators and Target Test Items
Using the test-related plans, review the Test Motivators. Motivation may come from one of any number of sources: an individual work product, a set of work products, an event or activity, or the absence of any of these things. Sources might include: Risk List, Change Requests, Use Cases, other Requirements work products, UML Models, and so on. It is insufficient for a Test-Ideas List to contain a single entry that refers to validating a single source requirement. That should certainly be one entry on the list, but a well-formed Test-Ideas List attempts to advise about quality for a given Target Test Item on many other dimensions, in addition to validating compliance with specification.
Examine Relevant Available Test-Idea Catalogs
Use any available Test-Ideas Catalog or other established guidelines to identify initial ideas for the tests.
Brainstorm Additional Test Ideas
Encourage other test team members to contribute additional test ideas. Consider doing this informally over a "brown bag lunch". To stimulate the session, you might read selected excerpts from testing journals, published books, or relevant mail from test community mail lists. While this is generally a useful thing to do, it is especially useful and important in situations where there are no existing Test-Idea Catalogs to reference. See the "More Information" section in the header table of this page for further guidelines on brainstorming.
List Candidate Test Ideas
For each combination of Test Motivator and Target Test Item, list the Test Ideas that are potential candidates.
Refine the Test-Ideas List
It is worth getting a broader sampling of feedback. Show your list to interested development staff, customer representatives, and other stakeholders who might have further ideas to add. At this stage, it is generally better to have too many ideas than too few. Simply refine the list by adding any additional entries, and remove any entries that are obviously duplicates.
Maintain Traceability Relationships
Using the Traceability requirements for the project, update the traceability relationships as required.
Evaluate and Verify Your Results
You should evaluate whether your work is of appropriate quality, and that it is complete enough to be useful to those team members who will make subsequent use of it as input to their work. Where possible, use checklists to verify that quality and completeness are good enough. Have the people who perform the downstream tasks that rely on your work as input review your interim work. Do this while you still have time available to take action to address their concerns. You should also evaluate your work against the key input work products to make sure that you have represented them accurately and sufficiently. It may be useful to have the author of the input work product review your work on this basis.
Properties
Multiple Occurrences |
Event Driven |
Ongoing |
Optional |
Planned |
Repeatable |
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