Project Management for Testers

[Daragh]

Project management can vary in complexity depending on the scale of the project and as well as the skill level and size of the test team involved.

What project management tips would you offer testers to help them successfully complete a project?

[Afreen]

Testers can easily get involved with project management. They are the ones knowing the in and out of the project. The more ownership you take the more you grow. My suggestions would be:
– Always keep an eye on what is being reported by all testers and devs in the team.
– Don’t create fuzz about those unimportant 1 pixel bugs, rather always filter out what really needs to be fixed first (means prioritize issues) and what needs to be taken out.
– Make the best use of the issue tracker. Create necessary filters, save them in a dashboard and be always ready with the answer to “where do we stand now?”
– Put right emphasis on requirement analysis. I have seen solid success after practicing this. Ask questions about the spec, find missing cases in it and document them. Then make sure everyone in the team including the devs understand the way you do. This will save a lot of bugs from coming.
– Your suggestions can make the product better, so never hesitate to suggest an improvement.
– Push people in a positive and pleasant way. Try to get the most severe or high priority issues done by devs by reminding them, get the issues prioritized by the right person always on time.
– Work closely with both the product and dev team and reduce the distance.
– List out the tasks that must be completed for every release way ahead of time.
– Re-estimate whenever you can foresee more time is needed to accomplish a task and inform all the stakeholders.

[Daragh]

Thanks you Afreen. You made some good points. I was particularly interested in your last point

Re-estimate whenever you can foresee more time is needed to accomplish a task and inform all the stakeholders.

Does reallocation of time on certain projects not affect how you manage other projects?

[Ramesh]

A Tester should use meticulously the Test Management tool, identified for the project, in the following ways, which would aid in better project management
o mapping of test cases and defects to requirements, to ensure forward and backward traceability
o Executing the test cases from the test management tool, if feasible.

This would ensure that proper test planning, test execution, and hence better project management which would assist the Project Manager in:
o adjusting the estimates for test case preparation time, test execution and defect fix testing
o Adjusting the estimates and schedules of next test cycles based on the prior test cycles.
o Root cause analysis of the defects which would pave way for writing better test strategy and test cases.

[Padmaraj]

Tester project management activities deepened on work environment, all companies have their own work environment; it included the daily work flow, development life cycles, test life cycles.

As I think to make project management more effectively a tester should know 5 listed below points in more extensive way.
1) Architecture knowledge ( domain knowledge, product knowledge, test environments, tools knowledge )
2) Time management skills ( estimation )
3) Keep track of the new requirements / change in requirements of the Project.
4) Communication ( with Team, Developer, Manager’s, Client )
5) Metrics, Reporting and Analysis

[Gana]

To add few more to the Project Management:
1. Focus on the Risk identified and keep an eye on risks till closure
2. Budget – any overheads happen, a balancing act is required
3. Constant mentoring of the teams – identify the critical bugs at any time..
4. No individual is greater than the project. Work as a team..
5. Happens to be in a rough patch, don’t lose heart..

My 5 cents worth..

[Kim]

I think keeping calm is missing. The following is maybe a slightly different slant on this topic.

When I feel like I get overwhelmed because there are so many projects that need management of the test activities I ty to take a breather and then make a list.
Who knows what?
Who owns which task?
Who is responsible for what?
I try to encourage face to face communication but make sure the important decisions are documented. We call this a decision log.

Be factual and do not assume anything.
Use the tools at your disposal, even the kettle. Offering to make a cup of tea and then having a brief chat about the project can really help build the professional relationships you need to complete the projects as part of the team.
Sorry if my tone is a bit more on the softer skills. I think this is why testers are great on projects because we by nature have to speak to all sorts of people and have to be logical and methodological. 🙂

[Author]

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