You Are Not Done Yet: Documentation

http://www.ddj.com/blog/debugblog/archives/2007/05/you_are_not_don_29.html;jsessionid=WGT4RGZSSBNT2QSNDLRSKH0CJUNN2JVN

THE BOOK OF TESTING Thoughts From a Braidy Tester by Michael Hunter

May 07, 2007 You Are Not Done Yet: Documentation You are not done testing unless...you have reviewed all documentation, a) to ensure that it is correct, and b) to help generate test cases. I have lost track of the number of help sample code listings which did not compile due to one problem or another. I have seen documentation which depicted UI which was not in the actual application, and encountered UI in the application which was nowhere to be found in the documentation. Other collateral can be useful to review as well - all those product support calls for the previous version of your application, for example. And have you looked at your source code lately? Source code reviews are a simple way to find those places where supposed-to-be-temporary message boxes and other functionality is about to be shipped to paying customers. And on and on and on. Review postponed and otherwise not-fixed bugs from previous releases Review product support issues from previous releases Review error reports submitted by customers for previous releases Verify each error message which can be presented to your customer is accurate, easily understood, and understandable Verify each input validation error message refers to the correct problem Verify all tutorials are correct: the steps are correct, UI matches the actual UI, and so on Review every help topic for technical accuracy Verify each piece of context sensitive help is correct Verify every code sample functions correctly Verify every code sample follows appropriate coding standards and guidelines Review all source code for Security issues (see the Security YANDY list for more details) Potential memory leaks Dead code Correct error handling Use of obsolete and banned function calls Compliance with appropriate coding standards and guidelines Inappropriate user-facing messages Verify you have discussed the feature design and target users with your feature team Verify you have asked your developer which areas they think could use special attention Verify you have discussed your feature with your product support team Verify you have brainstormed and reviewed your test cases with your feature team and with your Test team Verify you have discussed cross-feature implications with your feature team and with your Test team Verify you have completed all appropriate feature-specific testing Verify you have completed all appropriate cross-feature integration testing Verify you have completed all appropriate real-world use-it-the-way-your-user-will testing Posted by The Braidy Tester at 07:30 AM