Many organizations spend thousands of hours testing software in their products. Typical test suites often number into the thousands of tests, many of which are manual tests requiring hundreds of hours to both develop and execute. In many cases, test suites evolve over time and often include dozens or even hundreds of “non-productive” tests. These tests often are looking for problems in areas where there aren’t problems. Even worse, there can be several areas that have inadequate or non-existent test coverage.

As an organization, how can you assess and improve the effectiveness of your test suite?

Understand that testing provides:

• Information about potential defects in the product

• Confidence that requirements are being met, and that changes to software haven’t introduced new defects