Xtreme Testing

Too little testing is an offense and too much testing is impossible.

Deciding till what extent the testing should be performed against a specific module/component/system is called Xtreme Testing. This decision could be based on time, resource and functionalities.

Within the testing industry, we are really struggling with how to know when to say when. This becomes more difficult when you have to analyze your testing scope that you are going to perform with the release. And on top of it, this becomes most difficult when you are working in a vagrant requirements situation.

I personally believe that testing never ends. It just gets transferred from you to your customer. Every time your customer uses the program, a test is being conducted. That is the reason due to which no product is bug free. If a testing manager says that the tested product by his team would be bug free, he must be not aware of the testing and its realities. Recently, I attended one presentation in a seminar titled “Zero Defect in Software”. The presenter tried his best to convince his audience that it is possible to have“Zero Defect” software. After seminar, I asked him personally whether he had delivered any software product having “Zero Defect”. He said “No”.

Recently in my career, I am watching the managers in panic into the trap of achieving delivery schedules by trimming tests. Some managers’ shortcut test work by skipping reviewing and unit testing in the middle of their project. Others pressure the testers to "test faster" at the end. And, most frequently, they just drop planned tests altogether, hoping they "get lucky." This is the scenario when one should think about “Xtreme Testing”.

To plan and perform Xtreme Testing, one should do their best to optimize testing by means of both tried and tested and innovative techniques. How much testing to perform is based on risk of failure? Prioritization of tests is an important task to perform.

I said before testing is a never ending process and that is why prioritization is required for best testing. It totally depends on your project of how you will perform the “Xtreme Testing” but this is a must do activity in the environment in which the software testing is moving at a rapid pace.

-- Sanat Sharma