A Brief Introduction of Test Estimation

What is Test Estimation?

Test estimation is the management activity which calculates how much a task takes to complete in terms of time and cost.

When biding happens, generally two questions are asked by client:

These questions can be answered when we calculate the proper time to complete all testing cycles.

Questions also arise what to estimate? Is it time, resources, cost or human skills?

Resources may include anything which helps in carrying out testing activity. For e.g. testers, environment, facility, training etc.

Time is important factor as every project delivery has a deadline.

Cost defines how much money it will take to finish a project.

Human Skills include knowledge and experience of testers. Testers having low experience will definitely take more time to test.

Some tips which may help in test estimation with accuracy:

• Add some buffer time - In the realistic world, there may be some situations which might impact testing activities. For e.g. test data is not available on time, resource unavailability due to uncertain reasons.
• Account Resource planning - Plan for long leaves from a team. Use realistic data as we know there could be public holidays, planned leaves from a team or any person might be sick. Consider these situations while estimating for any testing project and exclude this duration from an actual calculation.
• Use the past experience as the reference - Experiences from past projects gives a fair idea on how long it will take to complete. Learn from past mistakes and add/remove time-based on issues faced last time.
• Stick to Your estimation - Ensure that estimations are done correctly and keep a track on progress. Recheck if estimations need to be modified. Although they should not be changed once finalized until there is no major change in requirement.