Key Points

• Brief description of Evolutionary Delivery.
• Introduction to steps required to effectively test in an EVO environment
• Detailed process of testing during evolutionary deliveries.

Presentation Abstract

Are they new processes or just buzzwords? Is it the next "Silver Bullet" or just a passing fad? As a profession, I believe we jump too often for the newest trend to solve our problems without really looking at the tools, techniques, and processes already employed.

The evolutionary model or EVO has been used on several projects with great success including the Message ManagerÖ project here at Lucent Technologies. We have been able to consistently keep the project within budget and meet scheduled deliveries. However, using Evolutionary Delivery invalidates traditional test methodologies. Testing becomes an integrated, continuous process throughout the development life cycle not an "add-on" function at "code complete".

Just as the Evolutionary Delivery model itself requires a different mindset so does "Evolutionary Testing". We must still employ sound concepts and techniques toward testing but we have to think about the process differently.

This presentation does not describe any revolutionary new ideas or processes rather it describes a practical methodology that will produce positive results. I will describe the testing methodology used on Message Manager and our current project and by applying these techniques, rapid deliveries can easily be accommodated. Thinking "Evolutionary" has made the testing effort more productive and has created a better product for our customers.

About the Author

Mr. Philip Lones (Lucent Technologies) [USA] Phil Lones is currently working as the test manager for PC and web based projects with Lucent Technologies. He has several yearsÆ experience testing mainframe and client server applications. He presented his paper on Evolutionary Delivery at the 1998 Lucent Software Symposium, local SPIN and ACM chapters and last yearÆs Quality Week Symposium.

Mr. Lones holds an MS degree in Information Systems Management from the University of Colorado at Denver, a BS degree in Computer Science from Metro State College of Denver and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington. He is a member of the Association for Computer Machinery, the Rocky Mt. Information Managers Association, and SQUAD, Software Quality Association of Denver.