January 4th, 2010 by William Echlin
The road to software test tool implementation is strewn with traps and pitfalls. Traps and pitfalls that result in ’shelfware’.
As testers we’ve enough experience to get past the big implementation hurdles. Installation, setup and education are usually a breeze for us. We spend our day jobs working and learning about new software. So we should be good at this!
Yet we’re just as prone to one ‘gotcha’ as everyone else……..”the failure to treat new software systems and processes as ONGOING projects”.
Like everyone else we think implementing a new software testing tool is a one off project. Just switch it on, use it a few times and away you go. Treat your projects like this and you may as well be putting up a new shelf for the software to sit on.
Value from new software testing tools and processes grows OVER TIME not OVER NIGHT!
We must concentrate on the ongoing effort just as much as the initial effort.
When you buy a new car you don’t pay for it and then expect it to run at no cost for the next 5 years. Once you’ve made that initial outlay you expect to purchase petrol each week. You expect to pay for a service once a year. It’s the same for implementing new software testing tools.
New software testing tools need:
- administering
- training for new testers
- monitoring for consistent usage across the team
- tracking of user adoption
- adjustment to match changing business process
- implementation of new features
- completion of upgrades
Don’t overlook any of these points! There’s a cost associated with each of them. They all take TIME,
EFFORT and MONEY.
The only option that incurs little cost is placing the software testing tools on a new shelf you’ve been carefully constructing. Even the conscious decision (or more commonly subconscious decision) to place new software testing tools on the shelf comes with a cost though.
That cost is the ‘opportunity cost’ of missing out on the benefits you were so close to realising.
Ongoing costs may be less that the up front costs. Yet you must budget money and time to address. If you do then you stand a far higher chance of realising the benefits you were hoping for.
If you’re considering implementing new software testing tools don’t forget the on going costs. They may be small but they are no less critical.
