Overview

Once you have a test plan in place, it is time to begin developing tests. The test development process can be a long and tedious operation and the best way to begin is to take the crawl, walk, run approach. Meaning you have to crawl before you can walk and you have to walk before you can run. This correlates to a layered approach of test development. By breaking the test development process down into layers, it becomes more manageable and each layer addresses a specific need. For instance, the first layer addresses the minimum shipping requirements, while the final layer includes structural and performance tests. By using layers, you set yourself up to build upon the testing done in previous layers. You should also be gearing your tests towards different testing methodologies.

As development becomes familiar with your testing, you begin to see fewer defects. When this occurs, it is time to consider a new testing method. Several methodologies should coexist in your testing, and CBTM is a great way to manage the tests from the different methodologies. Stress testing, performance testing, and functional testing are just a few of the many testing methods used in the industry and each method looks for different types of defects. By incorporating tests from all different methodologies, you ensure your full test suite is more robust and complete. When using CBTM with different methodologies you can set aside a portion of execution time to run tests from each methodology.