How to Manage Risk During Test Planning

Risks have the potential to destroy an application or slow down the development team, but putting it into the overall workflow will help lower overall consequences. Here are a few tips to managing risk during test planning:

1. Identify potential issues first
Initially, QA teams should take the time to determine what items will be potential risks to the project and wherein the workflow they may appear. Software Testing Help noted that while this mainly just results in a list of risks, it also can give the QA team an idea of how to actually combat these problems. For example, if defects are found late in the cycle, it could be as a result of unclear specifications. This makes QA aware that they need to clearly define requirements from the very beginning and prepare themselves to handle any potential changes that may emerge. Having a robust quality assurance plan and strategy is a must.

2. Prioritize risks in terms of impact
The next step after identifying issues is to rank them in terms of the potential consequences they can bring to QA teams. Industry expert Inder Singh noted that risk impact is measured in tangible terms, while risk probability is gauged on its likeliness to occur. Sorting risks based on these results will give QA information on which issues are more serious and need to be managed more closely. For example, a lack of scope can significantly skew the entire project and are more likely to happen than natural disasters.

In this step, QA teams can use enterprise test management software to organize tasks based on the risk plan. This will ensure that any issues that appear are immediately prioritized and can be quickly mitigated. Insight of this level will help improve overall quality and reduce the potential for risk to impact operations.

3. Develop solutions to your problems
Each organization will have different risks associated with their projects, so it's important that they come up with solutions that will directly fit their capabilities and resources. The initial list made in step one will be a significant help in guiding teams to making the right decisions. By making this document as thorough as possible, QA can easily come up with strategies to combat any potential situation, ensuring that they are ready when needed. For example, a QA management can plan and foster prompt communication and fixing of issues. This way, teams will be prepared and can spring into action to reduce the time needed for risk mitigation.

There are always risks with projects, and it's especially important to plan for them appropriately. By following these steps, QA teams will be able to appropriately mitigate risks through the test planning phase and be ready for any issues that may appear.