The waterfall life-cycle development methodology consists of distinct phases from requirements to coding. Life-cycle testing means that testing occurs in parallel with the development life cycle and is a continuous process. Deming’s continuous improvement process is applied to software testing using the quality circle, principles, and statistical techniques.
The psychology of life-cycle testing encourages testing to be performed outside the development organization. The motivation for this is that there are clearly defined requirements, and it is more efficient for a third party to verify these requirements.
The test plan is the bible of software testing. It is a document prescribing the test objectives, scope, strategy approach, and test details. There are specific guidelines for building a good test plan.
The two major quality assurance verification approaches for each life-cycle phase are technical reviews and software testing. Technical reviews are more preventive; that is, they aim to remove defects as soon as possible. Software testing verifies the actual code that has been produced.
The objectives of this section are to:
■ Discuss how life-cycle testing is a parallel activity.
■ Describe how Deming’s process improvement is applied.
■ Discuss the psychology of life-cycle development and testing.
■ Discuss the components of a good test.
■ List and describe how technical review and testing are verification techniques.