Testing Effort Prioritization

The User Story Coverage Report empowers QA engineers to prioritize testing efforts effectively and collaborate seamlessly with developers. By combining strategic prioritization with proactive collaboration, you can achieve comprehensive testing coverage and deliver high-quality software with confidence.

Tips for fostering collaboration:

  • Bridge the Gap: Utilize the report to proactively engage developers in discussions. Identifying untested methods is just the beginning.

  • Seek Clarification: Schedule regular meetings to discuss complex methods and seek their expertise.

  • Joint Ownership: Foster a collaborative spirit to overcome challenges and ensure comprehensive testing.


Step-by-Step Tutorial

1. Access the Report
  • Navigate to your relevant Jira project and locate the User Story Coverage report within the Sheets page.

  • If unavailable, follow the How to Generate / Edit the Report guide for creation.

2. Ensure Scope Accuracy
3. Visualize and Analyze
  • Review Metrics: Analyze both Modified Coverage and Non-Unit Tests Coverage for each user story.

4. Identify and Categorize Gaps

Focus your efforts on areas most likely to lack comprehensive testing. Expand these user stories to pinpoint specific subtasks lacking tests.

Critical Non-Unit Test Gaps:

  • Begin by prioritizing user stories where Non-Unit Tests Coverage is marked red (low coverage) or orange (requires improvement).

  • These stories have the highest potential for missing crucial non-functional aspects like integration, usability, or performance.

  • Verify Satisfactory Coverage: Ensure subtasks with sufficient coverage align with your testing strategy (e.g., API testing for relevant changes).

Address Moderate Non-Unit Test Gaps:

  • After addressing critical gaps, move to stories with green Non-Unit Tests Coverage, but not 100%.

  • Analyze these stories closely, as moderate gaps could still indicate vulnerabilities.

  • Address Specific Test Types: Assess individual test type coverage against your standards and identify responsible subtasks.

5. Craft a Testing Plan
  • Categorize Gaps: Create separate lists for:

    • Uncovered subtasks.

    • Subtasks with low coverage.

    • Subtasks lacking crucial test types (based on your strategy).

  • Assign Ownership: Match each list item with its parent user story for context.

6. Prioritize Resources

Strategic Allocation: Follow this sequence:

  • Address uncovered subtasks first (complete testing absence).

  • Move to subtasks with low coverage, prioritizing based on severity and impact.

  • Assign relevant individuals to cover subtasks within critical test types, focusing on sensitive code sections and critical functionality.

Remember: This framework serves as a foundation. Adapt it to your specific organizational needs, testing strategies, and resource availability.

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