Workshop implementation and follow-up

15 minutes

The following sections explain the steps that are involved in conducting the workshop and following up afterward.

Test strategy review participants

The test strategy review is an excellent chance to ensure that the project team is familiar with the overall testing strategy and its implications. Having a broader team present in the workshop can be a helpful way to provide context to the team. In some cases, due to the size of the implementation team, it might be necessary to limit participation in the workshop to only the roles that are outlined in the following list. With that in mind, make sure that you consider these guidelines:

The workshop should be attended by representatives from the customer organization and the partner organization that is assisting with the implementation. Part of the review’s value is providing collective information about the strategy and status across all involved parties.
The workshop should include the project managers, solution architects, and test managers from the customer and partner organization. If the customer doesn’t have a specific role in their organization, then the responsible equivalent stakeholder(s) should be involved.
The customer and partner project managers, solution architect(s), and test manager(s) are mandatory. Also, depending on the complexity and risk to the business of the various areas, consider inviting the following: integration lead(s), data migration lead(s), business intelligence lead(s), security lead(s), and any other specialist area lead that can contribute to the discussion.

Conduct the Test strategy review workshop

The Test strategy review workshop will be facilitated by the solution architect, but the expectation is that the implementation team will present the test strategy information. Each section of the agenda should be assigned an owner within the implementation team. At the beginning of each section, that owner should present an overview or summary of the strategy, scope, plans, design, and status that apply to that aspect of the strategy. The team should plan for that summary to take around 25 percent of the allotted time, but not much more. The remainder of the time should be reserved for questions and answers with the solution architect.

The implementation team leadership should work with the solution architect ahead of the workshop to shape the agenda and timings for the session. Depending on the state and complexity of the strategy and readiness of the implementation team, the review might require more or less time. While the baseline plan is to conduct the workshop in two hours, that time can be adjusted to a certain extent to accommodate the complexity and requirements of the project.

Time management in the workshop is important. Top priority for the workshop is to get through the overall test strategy, which should be prioritized over going too in-depth in any one area. If the conversation is becoming too extensive and you are running out of time to cover the breadth of the test strategy, you should expect that the solution architect will discontinue the detailed conversations for follow-up in a further in-depth workshop.

Note

During the workshop, you can expect that discussion will happen about the scope, design, planning, and approach. As part of that expectation, the solution architect might provide some guidance directly within the meeting. However, these sessions are not intended to be for the solution architect to design the test strategy, but rather, to review it. The provided feedback might alter the current plan or design, but the detailed work in those areas will be carried out by the implementation team after the workshop.

Test strategy review outputs

The output of the Test strategy review workshop is a findings document. This findings document is a response to information that the solution architect has been provided, either as preparation for the workshop or during the workshop. Generally, these findings will be structured in the same way (assertions, risks, and issues) according to the Solution blueprint review workshop. For more information, see the Solution blueprint review workshop.

Subsequent test strategy reviews

In general, the engagement extends to the first go live for any specific implementation. In most cases, the test strategy review that is performed at the beginning of the implementation is sufficient for that implementation. Occasionally, subsequent reviews are required. The following examples explain scenarios where additional test strategy reviews might be required:

Challenges with the initial test strategy review – In rare cases, the Test strategy review workshop is unable to cover all required information. The reason could be major gaps or conflicts in the understanding of the scope that need to be worked out by the implementation team, or it could be a lack of a meaningful test strategy. In these cases, going through the initial Test strategy review workshop early is valuable because it highlights these issues so that they can be resolved, but it will require the workshop to be repeated.
Significant scope change – Occasionally, an implementation is affected by major changes in scope or approach. Following a significant change in scope, it might make sense to reassess the test strategy.
Organizational changes – Periodically, organizations experience significant change during the implementation. Events like mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures can significantly impact the solution architecture design and might necessitate reevaluation.

Test strategy follow-up