What factors should you consider when estimating testing effort in Scrum? (2024)

Start with your customer and acceptance criteria. Based on these, define what are your right quality KPIs to measure/assess - both functional and non-functional and have a clear Definition of Done. From the final launch date, work backwards and define what work needs to be delivered in which Sprint. Depending on the time and resource constraints you need to make right trade-off decisions to ensure optimum test coverage. Identify your dependencies, integrations and boundaries. Ensure you establish right test contracts with partner teams. Your team is the best judge of the efforts and you should do everything possible to support them to iterate over time and improve on the delivery pace as-well-as effort estimation.

Scope of the User StoriesAcceptance CriteriaDefinition of Done (DoD)DependenciesRegression TestingTest Data and EnvironmentsTesting TechniquesExperience of the TeamVelocity and CapacityRisk AnalysisCommunication and CollaborationFeedback LoopsTooling and AutomationBuffer for Unknowns

As simple as Teams having a stated Sprint goal which is accompanied by a task/ticket and reviewed at every scrum ceremony will help monitor progress and ensure project is within scope .

The scope of the sprint is the most important step while testing an application. What are the focus areas and what delivers the most value should be clear in the scope.

Capacity Planning1) should understand the capacity to plan the iteration2) Scope takes the next lead once capacity is finalized to have achievable outcome

1. Have an objective for each sprint2. Start early testing procedures, even before code is defined.3. Select the technique which is to be used to drive the testing.

Part of the test strategy-should also be identifying the parts of testing that requires repetitive steps should be scripted. Automating requires frameworks but simple small steps should just work with small scripts giving out expected results.

Testing strategy plays big role while estimating efforts as that defines what percentage will be automation and how much manual effort is required.

Within agile frameworks like Scrum, it’s crucial to recognize that an effective testing strategy can’t be all static but should evolve sprint by sprint, based on team dynamics and the shifting demands of the development lifecycle. A thoughtful balance between automated and manual testing, coupled with a keen understanding of test coverage and resource allocation, plays a critical role in meeting the sprint goals.

In the Testing Strategy we should consider following things.1. Identify the type of testing needed (e.g Unit, Integration, UAT)2. Identify the different test levels as different testing levels may require different time requirements

Estimation is majorly driven by team`s capacity, assess the team's capacity by reviewing the number of testers, their skills and bandwidth. Factor in if testers split time with other responsibilities. Evaluate previous testing velocity to understand execution rate. Along with it, collaborate with testers to plan achievable testing goals for each sprint based on team capacity, balancing quality needs with realistic output. Continuously inspect and adapt as capacity changes each iteration.

Estimating testing effort in Scrum is no walk in the park. It's all about juggling different factors to get it right.Team capacity is a major factor. It's all about the team's size, skills, and how well they work together. Knowing this helps set realistic goals for testing in each sprint.These considerations are game-changers. They help teams plan better, deliver top-notch software, and stay on track with project deadlines. It's like having a roadmap for testing that keeps everyone moving in the right direction.

In Scrum, team capacity is great to sprint workload based on size, skills, availability, and collaboration. Estimating testing effort involves considering team roles, skills, experience, and communication, impacting effort and quality based on competence, confidence, creativity, alignment, feedback, and transparency.

In Team capacity we should see the Velocity and Historical data.1. Use the team's historical data and velocity to estimate testing efforts.2. Review the past sprints to understand how much testing was done in similar situations.3. Team experience and expertise should also be considered.

Team capacity is important for estimating efforts as this has to b divided into RBS to have better understanding and helps to give efficient effort estimations.

Many a times stories or some enhancements are added midway in the sprint, which has a big impact on testing. As testing team acts as a quality gatekeeper, they have responsibility to complete testing and certify the user stories. But adding items in between jeopardizes the timelines and is a risk to test completion and thus quality of code.

Identify the risks as early as possible, try to reduce mid way addition of requirements to the sprint which jeopardize the entire sprint at times. Always have a contingency plan in order to meet the "Definition of Done".

Risks are always present in any project. Antocipat stand and common risks with similar projects is the key. Also leaving room for unforseen challenges.Get team ready for risk mitigation plans and get the disaster recovery in place.

Big features not epics should not be added in the middle of the sprint. For example accounting, billing features. All the tasks details should be prepared on well defined with screenshots or snapshots. Manual test employees and Automation employees should be separated.

Risk and uncertainties should be tracked in risk register and Risk management plan should be in place at the time of preparing the Project management plan

Although direct replication of effort estimates from past projects may not be advisable, there is value in leveraging historical data for insights. By scrutinizing previous projects, one can discern recurring patterns, extract valuable lessons, and identify factors that have historically influenced testing efforts.

There are multiple factors we need to consider when giving estimations for test. Of course, project scope is at its top. Total timeline for the project is decided based on the complete project scope. When it comes to the agile, scope is the stories taken in to the sprint. Story point estimations include both development and test effort required for that story to be delivered. When test estimations are given, we need to consider the test coverage and depth related to the stories taken in. From that test scope we need to decide on how many tests we are going to automate and how many manual test cases are there. In order to do this requirements should be clear.

Few more things to consider.1. Identify and account for any external dependency that may affect testing.2. Implement feedback loops within the team to continuously improve estimations.3. Collaborate closely with the development team to understand the implications details.4. Clearly define the definition of done. Ensure that the testing criteria is well defined and agreed upon by the team.5. Complexity of a system or new feature (under test) should also be considered before giving estimations.

Other considerations for me are remember it's a "whole team approach". If you still rely on testers to do all the testing the effort estimate is affected.If I know the product owner values quality and testability when factoring user stories that's a win.If I know the devs value unit testing and code quality that's a win.If QA are the only ones considering quality then your estimate is much larger.

Collaboration with Development Team is an essential factorRegularly collaborating with the development team to understand the technical aspects of user stories, example: discussing with developers may reveal complexities that impact testing, influencing effort estimatesThere should also be Reassessments and AdjustmentsRegular reassessment and adjustment of estimates based on actual performance and evolving project dynamics too has an impact, example, if the team faces unexpected challenges during testing, they should be open to revising estimates for future sprints