Static test planning

Problem: Planning the verification part of testing does not always happen in a structured way.

Reviewing aka static testing is the verification part of the V&V used for checking a delivery. Documentation is very important to testers, and testing artifacts and test basics are in need of processes to support them in their lifetime. A part of this is reviews and the approval of the document that it leads to – Something that require careful planning, as it requires that timing and resources are aligned to be done in due time.

Solution: Static test planning

Base your static test om a plan, much like you would do in the case of dynamic testing. The plan should be build on same principles as you dynamic test plan. Following items should (as a minimum) be detailed in your static test plan:

• Deliverables under review – Look at the list of deliveries and nominate those that needs review.
• Approach – Describe the methods/types of review applied for each document under review.
• Document approval – What are the prerequisites for approval of a document?
• Procedures and templates – What is the procedure for reviewing and what tools are needed?
• Responsibilities – Who is document owner, review lead and approver?
• Staffing and training needs – Who will do the work? Do they need training I doing reviews?
• Schedule – When should the work be done? Remember your dependencies to project plan.

What is the purpose of static testing? Much like dynamic testing, we will be looking for deviation from standards, missing requirements, design defects, non-maintainable code and inconsistent specifications. The process of review also resembles the one for dynamic test:

Define expectations to review, then perform review & record results and finally implement changes required. When the review is done and findings have been addressed then look at sign off of the document.

Happy testing!

/Nicolai