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What do we actually base our time estimations on when delivering a plan to a project manager?
I know that we initially can have a vague idea on what to include and what must be done. I am sure that we can even make a rough estimation on how many resources we need in some cases. If we are testing something new, where we do not know the developers and the full extent of what is delivered, how do we know how much time and resources we need for testing? I have seen many plans that give an estimate, but how accurate can they be?
Once I did a resource plan for a year long test project, I was allowed to change the plan incrementally. I estimated that we needed quite many testers since the deliverables had been delayed and the original plan with incremental builds early did not work out as planned. In the test team we had a few disagreements about how many we actually needed, some thought that we were enough and some (including me) thought we needed more. We got 10% of the resources that I had wanted, but we managed somehow (to some extent). Decision makers seemed to be satisfied with the quality and the result of these tests. One of the reason for us succeeding was that we reported more bugs than the developers were able to fix. If we would have been more testers we would have found many more bugs for sure, but they would probably just have been postponed. The most critical ones were always fixed, but all others below that could not be fixed naturally.
So… should we when estimating resources and time focus on getting enough and the right resources just to keep the spot light of the resource discussion somewhere else? Lets say that bugs are fixed faster than we find new ones, will that mean that we are ready to deliver or that we need more testers to find even more bugs?
I think resource planning and time estimations is very hard. Michael Bolton has expressed, in an excellent way, many of the thoughts that I have tangled with. You can find his reasoning here:
http://www.developsense.com/2009/11/why-is-testing-taking-so-long-part-1.html
http://www.developsense.com/2009/11/what-does-testing-take-so-long-part-2.html
Combine the idea of having estimated how long time testing needs with an answer on how far we have come and especially pinning it down in percentage. Can we say anything truthfully here? Is it worth the cost it takes in planning and administration to give a accurate picture?
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