Acceptance Test Engineering Guidance

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:46:26 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

Update: Alpha version of the guide (Aug 26, 2008) is released

We are shipping an Alpha release of draft content that we feel is ready for comment from the community. From the alpha, you will be able to see the shape of the guide as it is coming together, and you will be able to give us feedback on anything we included or missed.

Project Description

The Acceptance Test Engineering Guide will provide guidance for technology stakeholders (developers, development leads, testers, test leads, architects, etc.) and business stakeholders (managers, customers, end users, etc) on the discipline of acceptance testing.

Why acceptance testing?

patterns & practices has produced just a few guides related to testing (including performance testing, security testing of web apps, and testing of .NET application blocks). However, we hear a lot of requests from our customers for guidance on testing and test strategy in general, and also guidance on every type of testing you can think of. Based on this customer feedback, and a look at what guidance was available, we determined that acceptance testing was the next area to invest in.

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

The first guide will cover the discipline of acceptance testing from several perspectives and contexts. It will provide models, heuristics and a set of actionable job aides rooted in a sample app. The focus is on:

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

New Post: Feedback on Alpha Release

GaryVS — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:27:06 GMT

Thank you for the preview of the book; I am about halfway through, just finished the section on automated testing, and there are some great items in there and I very much enjoy your definitions and separation of models. One item that I immediately noticed was the use of idioms and colloquialisms, and I would suggest removing as many as possible. For example, an early reference to a binary decision being 'yea' or 'nay', or one line partially reading as "For the supplier to feel confident that their baby will pass muster with the customer requires...".

This is just my personal opinion but I feel that it decreases readability and of more importance lacks a certain professional tone/quality.

I am enjoying the book so far and I plan on monitoring future releases. I will try to provide more feedback once I have finished the book and had a chance to reflect on what I was able understand and fit into my own mental framework of acceptance testing and testing models.

Thanks,
Gary

Edited-removed formatting artifacts

Created Issue: External Links are not accessible

ben2004uk — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:09:51 GMT

While reading the book, I noticed all the external links appear to be internal Microsoft links - hence I cannot access them.

For example, on page 13 the link 'Incremental Acceptance Testing' points to https://sharepoint.partners.extranet.microsoft.com/sites/TestingGuidance/Shared%20Documents/Draft%20Content/Thumbnails/Incremental%20Acceptance%20Testing%20Thumbnail.docx

The link then prompts me for a username\password.

Updated Wiki: Home

MichaelPuleio — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:58:36 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

Update: Alpha version of the guide (Aug 26, 2008) is released

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

We have a rough plan in place, which targets sending the guide to the publisher and releasing it to the web at the end of July. Between now and August, we will post what we are working on here on our community site about every other week.

We look forward to your participation!

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

New Post: Feedback on Alpha Release

MichaelPuleio — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:07:41 GMT

Thanks for your interest in the Acceptance Test Engineering guide.

This CTP is an incomplete draft of a book that is currently being written. We have included the entire Draft Table of Contents. However, there are a number of empty sections in the actual text. If you see an empty section, assume we will fill in the section before we complete the book.

Your feedback is invited. Simply reply to this thread. We will carefully read every piece of feedback.

Thanks,
The team of authors: Grigori, Jon, Gerard, Michael, Rohit

Updated Release: Acceptance Test Engineering Alpha (Aug 26, 2008)

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:05:46 GMT

We are pleased to release this draft of the guide.

There are a number of empty sections in the actual text. If you see an empty section, assume we will fill in the section before we complete the book.

Happy reading! We look forward to your feedback!

Please provide it by posting a reply to the corresponding thread under Discussions.
Thanks!

Released: Acceptance Test Engineering Alpha (Aug 26, 2008)

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:05:46 GMT

Created Release: Community Alpha -- August 26,2008 (Aug 26, 2008)

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:04:44 GMT

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:59:53 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

Update: A new CTP (Aug 4, 2008) is released

We are shipping a new CTP (community tech preview) release of draft content that we feel is ready for comment from the community. From the preview, you will be able to see the shape of the guide as it is coming together, and you will be able to give us feedback on anything we included or missed.

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Updated Release: Community Preview Aug 4, 2008 (Aug 04, 2008)

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:58:02 GMT

Released: Community Preview Aug 4, 2008 (Aug 04, 2008)

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:58:02 GMT

New Post: Feedback on Community Preview Aug 4, 2008

gmelnik — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:50:34 GMT

Thanks for your interest in the Acceptance Test Engineering guide.

This CTP is an incomplete draft of a book that is currently being written. We have included the entire Draft Table of Contents. However, there are a number of empty sections in the actual text. If you see an empty section, assume we will fill in the section before we complete the book.

Your feedback is invited. Simply reply to this thread. We will carefully read every piece of feedback.

Thanks,
The team of authors: Grigori, Jon, Gerard, Michael, Rohit

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:37:59 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

Update: A new CTP to be released on Mon, Aug 3, 2008

On Monday, we plan on shipping a new CTP (community tech preview) release of draft content that we feel is ready for comment from the community. From the preview, you will be able to see the shape of the guide as it is coming together, and you will be able to give us feedback on anything we included or missed.

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:37:48 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

!Update: A new CTP to be released on Mon, Aug 3, 2008
On Monday, we plan on shipping a new CTP (community tech preview) release of draft content that we feel is ready for comment from the community. From the preview, you will be able to see the shape of the guide as it is coming together, and you will be able to give us feedback on anything we included or missed.

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:37:14 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

Update: A new CTP is in the works

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:36:48 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf
||! Update: A new CTP is in the works
On Monday, we plan on shipping a new CTP (community tech preview) release of draft content that we feel is ready for comment from the community. From the preview, you will be able to see the shape of the guide as it is coming together, and you will be able to give us feedback on anything we included or missed.||

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:36:16 GMT

|| AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf||! Update: A new CTP is in the works
On Monday, we plan on shipping a new CTP (community tech preview) release of draft content that we feel is ready for comment from the community. From the preview, you will be able to see the shape of the guide as it is coming together, and you will be able to give us feedback on anything we included or missed.||

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:35:33 GMT

| AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf|! Update: A new CTP is in the works
On Monday, we plan on shipping a new CTP (community tech preview) release of draft content that we feel is ready for comment from the community. From the preview, you will be able to see the shape of the guide as it is coming together, and you will be able to give us feedback on anything we included or missed.|

Project Description

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

What types of things you can learn in the guide?

If any of the following goals apply to you, you will want to check out the the guide.

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:30:46 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

Project Description

Update: A new CTP is in the works

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.

When will we be done?

Updated Wiki: Home

gmelnik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:30:00 GMT

AcceptanceTestEngineering_Announcement.pdf

Project Description

Update: A new CTP is in the works

Surveys:

Fill them out to provide input, insight, and feedback to the team.

Why acceptance testing?

What is acceptance testing?

Working definitions for a number of terms are available in our Draft Glossary. The current definition that is framing our work and discussions is:

Acceptance Testing: Planned evaluation of a system by customers/customer proxies to assess to what degree it satisfies their expectations.

We are open to suggestions on this and other terms. Please leave comments on the Draft Glossary page.

What are we producing?

This guide is the first in the series of three dedicated to acceptance testing and requirements engineering:

Acceptance test engineering guide
Acceptance test automation guide
Tool support for acceptance test-driven development.

How to Plan for Acceptance Testing
What Kinds of Acceptance Tests to Run
How to Create and Run Acceptance Tests
Defining What “Done” Means
How to Justify Your Approach

Who is on the team?

Grigori Melnik (program manager at p&p)
Jon Bach (professional test strategist from Quardev Labs)
Gerard Meszaros (agile and test automation expert and author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code)
Michael Puleio (developer at p&p with a passion around testing)
Rohit Sharma (tester at p&p).
RoAnn Corbisier (technical writer and editor at p&p)
You, the community. We want to hear from you via the Discussion forum here, the Issue Tracker, and feedback comments on what we post. We will listen, even if we do not agree with the recommendations or comments.