tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569385167918404048.post1525497311554916179..comments2024-01-11T01:27:26.811-06:00Comments on Oracle BI Blog - EPM, Business Intelligence, and OBIEE: How to Start Testing during an OBIEE ProjectBrian Ferinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04248805013232726191noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569385167918404048.post-24821437928977968572010-06-02T12:45:19.219-05:002010-06-02T12:45:19.219-05:00Initial development may be brought to a crawl for ...Initial development may be brought to a crawl for a number of reasons:<br />- the testing was arbitrarily rigorous, meaning everything was "beaten up" for perfection irrespective of its relative importance<br />- initial development actually was prototyping to figure out what is needed, at which point the test data will change every 5 minutes, along with the evolving requirements baseline<br /><br />I agree that most people will not do it. It isn't fun, it doesn't give the false feeling of momentum that sitting down and slinging code gives (yes, I'm guilty). Most organizations don't figure out how to do it well ("more" is not always "well"), but they eventually figure out the cost of not doing it at all.<br /><br />I've made a lot of money working with organizations that take on the same amount of new requirements each year, while having the previous year's defects get tacked onto the current effort. When you consider that a defect is just an unmet requirements, you have ballooning volume of requirements each fiscal year. Eventually more money goes into stuff that was supposedly done last year than doing the stuff that supposedly will get done this year. Almost invariably, testing gets its budget, project involvement, and time cut and -- voila! -- even more defects escape from year to year.<br /><br />The cure is complicated, and it is hard. You have the balance between analysis paralysis at one extreme, and hack-and-ship at the other. It takes management commitment to working out the right mix without sticking our collective heads in the sand and hoping it gets better. <br /><br />Your ratio of 1 in 8 shops doing this isn't that surprising. Their not getting it just right isn't either. The few that get it have a competitive edge of one sort. Those that don't can charge beta test fees to have their user community pay to provide product testing!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569385167918404048.post-73670658008196511512010-04-02T12:04:08.462-05:002010-04-02T12:04:08.462-05:00Thanks for the feedback Chet. I agree that detaile...Thanks for the feedback Chet. I agree that detailed testing is not done in most shops. That is one of the major reasons projects run over time and budget. There needs to be some negotiation about how much testing that needs to be done and how much. That is one of the reasons that I feel that a Test Strategy Document needs to be done at the first of the project. If all team members are aware of the importance of testing, then they can accomplish much of the testing during the design and developmemt stages.Ed Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09940647013053161999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569385167918404048.post-10834435378151832432010-04-01T08:15:19.185-05:002010-04-01T08:15:19.185-05:00Ed,
While I agree testing is very important...I j...Ed,<br /><br />While I agree testing is <i>very</i> important...I just don't think this is ultimately manageable. You <i>might</i> get this in the first cycle but as time goes on much of this will not be maintained (i.e. documentation).<br /><br />The exception(s) of course is having a leader who recognizes the importance of testing (dictator). Out of the 7 or 8 shops I have worked in, 1 had and maintained this stuff. While I enjoyed the benefits, it was a lot of work and brought initial development to a crawl.<br /><br />Hopefully I am not making excuses here, I love testing, I think it adds a lot of value...I have just found that most people will NOT do it.<br /><br />chetoraclenerdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12412013306950057961noreply@blogger.com