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Course Details:

I. TOP-DOWN ESTIMATING

• “Knowing” estimating is impossible
• How effective estimators differ
• Top-down estimating advantages
• Tester to developer ratio-based estimates
• Percentage of total budget for testing
• Lines of code, function points sizing
• Calibrating effort to size
• Historical testing effort as basis
• General and testing-specific issues
• Impacts rule-of-thumb methods cause
• Appropriateness and caveats for use

II. BOTTOM-UP ESTIMATING

• Need to identify test activities regardless
• Major reason estimates are inaccurate
• Work-breakdown structure technique
• Level-by-level increase in precision
• Near- and far-term detail differences
• Naming tasks to create success
• Identifying effort by resource and skill level
• Implicit vs. explicit duration
• Work packet roll-up
• Addressing contingencies and oversights
• Relating to top-down estimates, fudge factor
• Issues with task-oriented estimates
• Addressing extrinsic task dependencies
• Testing vs. debugging, when code arrives

III. TEST-BASED ESTIMATES

• What is a test case
• How many tests do we need
• Historical defect statistics, precision
• Risk-based testing
• IEEE Standard for test plans
• Master test planning
• Detailed test plans
• Test design specifications
• Test case specifications
• Exploratory and ad hoc testing
• Test automation factors and issues
• Unique factors for each type of special test
  

IV. ESTIMATING DURING THE PROJECT

• Recording actuals against estimates
• Projecting defects remaining
• Statistical sampling
• Seeding and mutation
• Linking two independent measures
• Identifying systematic estimating errors
• Monitoring and projecting arrival rate
• Identifying and attacking bug colonies
• Reporting testing status, business value
• Monitoring defect detection efficiency
• Applying inspections, higher-yield methods
• Refining estimates and estimating skills
• Tracing through production