Test Status and Key Metrics
It’s important to understand the progress being made in a software development project. There are many ways this can be accomplished depending on the methodology employed (e.g., burn down charts, KPI’s, EVM). But, when it comes to formal testing, having a short list of key metrics and charts that provide guidance on testing progress, passing tests, tester productivity and defect analysis (e.g., root cause, defect fix accuracy, defect trend) shed a lot of light on the software’s readiness for release.
There is an old adage that you get what you measure, so one must be very careful not to measure things that will drive the wrong behavior. For example, if you focus in on number of defects logged by testers, you’ll uncover a lot of bugs. Many will not be very relevant to the end user and most will be repetitive renditions of the same issue. A great place to begin when creating metrics is the Goal – Question – Metric paradigm. This helps you to ask yourself, “why do I want to know.”