Article archive
Independent test assurance before go-live should tell the decision-maker what evidence exists, where the important gaps are and what risk they are accepting if they proceed.
Stop arguing about whether the status should be green, amber or red. The colour is not the problem. The fact nobody trusts what sits underneath it is.
A testing supplier can meet every contractual SLA and still provide a service you do not trust, do not value and would not design again. That does not necessarily mean the supplier is cheating. It may mean the…
Five sign-offs can look reassuring on a release plan. They can also leave five people assuming somebody else made the actual decision.
Senior management does not need to understand every test case. It does need to ask better questions than ‘Are we green?’
When a board asks for a go/no-go view, it does not need the entire test management system translated into PowerPoint. It needs enough credible evidence to understand the remaining risk and make the decision it…
Headcount-based testing services are easy to understand commercially: you buy people for a period of time. They can also create an awkward incentive where efficiency reduces the supplier’s revenue and every…
You do not need to threaten termination every time a testing supplier disappoints you. Replacing a supplier is expensive, disruptive and sometimes just swaps one set of problems for another.
A testing supplier can become excellent at the contract and surprisingly weak at the product. Reports arrive on time. SLAs are quoted accurately. Every role is mapped to a responsibility. Then somebody asks…
Then stop measuring the consultancy by the reports.