Good Practice: You should test deliverables early. One of the fundamental lessons from delivering IT projects is that the later you leave the testing in the development cycle, the more it costs to fix.
A structured test plan should be developed and executed by people independent of the development team. Besides testing the deliverables, you should also test the overall infrastructure over which the deliverables will run. The major components in the architecture should be tested before building the final deliverables.
The test development life cycle has the following elements:
Test documentation is a necessary tool for managing and maintaining the testing process. Documents produced by testers should answer the following questions:
When end users get involved in the final stages of testing, light bulbs go on, and they often have an 'aha' moment. Unfortunately, that is often too late.
Common Mistakes
Warning Sign: Documentation or testing stages are cut to make up lost time.
Question 16: Have you conducted structured testing?
Question 17: Do you have a comprehensive implementation plan?
Question 18: Have you conducted a post implementation review?
Question 19: Will the deliverables and benefits of your project survive?