Back in the old days when the testing phase was merely considered to be a buffer zone for delays – the clever testers developed a survival strategy called Product Risk Analysis. This smart technique should not be kept captured in the testing world but be released to everyone.
The same concept should be used when planning releases and features, and during the design, and when making decisions about regression testing, and not at least when deciding what to automate.
Product Risk at System Level
How to use it
Delivery / Release Planning
The sequence of deliveries and activities should be planned according to business value and product risk.
The product risk should be used as an important factor during high level estimation.
Higher product risk implies the need for more thorough design and more thorough testing, as well as a higher amount of error corrections and more calendar time needed to achieve quality goals to fulfill Definition of Shippable.
Regression Test Strategy
The product risk should be used as an important factor when:
- Structuring regression test libraries.
- Identifying tests to be included in the regression test libraries.
- Determining the frequency of the regression tests.
Regression Test Automation Strategy
The product risk should be used as an important factor when:
- Identifying regression tests to be automated.
- Determining the frequency of the automated tests.
Product Risk at User Story Level
How to use it
Product Backlog Grooming / Refining
As part of Definition of Ready, the product risk of the user story should be assessed.
The severity of Damage should be set by the Product Owner.
The chance of failure should be assessed by the whole team, for instance by using Risk Poker.
Sprint / Feature Planning
The product risk of the user story should be used as an important factor during planning poker.
Higher product risk implies the need for more thorough design and more thorough testing.
The user stories with the highest business value and the highest product risk should be implemented first.
This is done to increase the probability of fulfilling the Definition of Done, by having as much calendar time as possible available to correct the most severe defects.
Test Strategy
The product risk should be used as an important factor when:
- Determining how thoroughly a user story should be tested, that is, determining the degree of Test Coverage.
Test Automation Strategy
The product risk should be used as an important factor when:
- Identifying tests to be automated.
So What! What’s in it for me
Product Risk Analysis may be used to reduce risk of delayed shipping by using the resources the most efficient way: Building quality into the product in the areas where quality matters the most and making sure the most severe defects are uncovered as early as possible to be able to fix them in time.
Laila Sandbæk at BouvetOne 2017
