Environmentally aware Testing, How efficient are your Testing Practices
Writing by John on Tuesday, 1 of September, 2009 at 9:47 am
The environment and global warming pose a disastrous threat, hence organizations world wide focus on reducing energy wastage, CO2 and other greenhouse gas pollution. The IT world is no exception; testing and test professionals too play a pivotal role in reducing the impact of this threat.
Unfortunately due to timeline issues testing gets squeezed leading to inefficient and ineffective testing and this in return leads to resource wastage, ranging from people, money, hardware and ultimately energy. Poorly defined roles and responsibilities leading to diluted lines of accountability, the chaotic development lifecycle leading to testing chaos, defect/bug management that needs structure, no supporting configuration management processes, 100+ Unix environments that are under utilized, replicating overnight process that utilizes huge CPU resource, lead to energy wastage, delays, resource misuse and environmental impact.
Certain testing approaches to reduce the impact are:
- Pertaining to the project necessities, travel only when necessary, utilize communications technology; video-/tele-conferencing, minimize paper trails, use electronic media and define risk criteria.
- When handling Test Management, commission to sustainable, reusable environments, liaise closely with development community and be focused; perform impact analysis of change and direct testing accordingly.
- When dealing with the Test Process conduct an environmental analysis and design, order work methodically by maximizing efficiencies, and adhere to structured testing methodology (Static Testing, Business Process Testing, V-Model and so on)
- To ensure environmental concerns the existing testing roles should be evolved. The roles should be captured during requirements gathering phase, they should be prioritized accordingly, alongside functionality and other business requirements, suitably tested (throughout development lifecycle), outstanding concerns are properly assessed, prioritized, risk managed and scheduled for future release.
Having a more energy efficient IT infrastructure and highly focused and driven people will minimize the organizations exposure to energy price increases and subsequent limitations imposed on the business.
Category: Software Testing
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