Abstract

This workshop has been designed to assist participants in understanding better, ‘what are test requirements?‘, “How to write test requirements?”, “How and when should we use them?”, “Why should we check their testability (and how)?”, and “For what purpose (what are the benefits)?” We shall also discuss the pros and cons of using test requirements.

In order to exercise test requirements, we will first discuss requirements engineering aspects, and identify the common fit palls that may be found in requirements – which might make them untestable.The problem of poor requirements is well known: poorly defined requirements lead to poor quality products and a high cost of rework with the testers often being blamed for not doing enough testing! According to industry experts such as DeMarco and Boehm, poor requirements might consume as much as 75% of overall rework costs.

The solution is also well known: early involvement by testers in the requirements process, higher responsibility and involvement by product marketing/management and a lot more involvement by development. In this workshop we shall also experience writing test requirements from a specification document.Writing test requirements is a step on the way to writing good requirements (as good feedback leads to improvement), it is related to as the Verification phase in the development of requirements process.

In the workshop, hints and tips will be suggested as to how to develop and recognize good, testable requirements, how to develop good test requirements and how to organize the test requirements in efficient hierarchy.

Pre-requisites