It's All About The User: Product Lifecycle - Preparation

Let's say for the moment you buy my proposition that thinking in terms of user actions will help you create effective test automation libraries and test cases that are easy to write, easy to change as the product changes, and whose organization stays clear over time. How do you integrate that into your product's lifecycle? What does it look like?

I'll go into copious detail soonest, but here's an overview to whet your appetite in the meantime:

Every product development effort starts with a vision for what the product will be, why it's being built, what its point is. This vision isn't always clearly articulated, but I have yet to see a development effort started just because the team was bored and didn't have anything better to do. Test this vision. Do you even have one? Does everyone on your team know what it is, do they understand it? Is it coherent? Can you imagine the types of user actions it might entail?

Next comes an initial gathering of requirements. If you're working in an agile environment this may only last a day or two, with the user stories being recorded on note cards or a simple online list. If your team follows the classic waterfall process (poor you!) requirements gathering may last for months as the team attempts to etch in stone every last requirement your customers have. Regardless of where on this spectrum your team lives, be involved throughout, looking at the requirements through user action-colored glasses. Again, can you imagine the types of user actions each requirement might entail?

Posted by The Braidy Tester at 07:30 AM  Permalink