In 2014 our colleague Ru created a tool in Google Scripts to support her testing in an organized and measurable way, using the Session Based Test Management method. The tool is available in the Google Templates Gallery via this link https://drive.google.com/a/altom.com/previewtemplate?id=0Aqk-dNwZsfwrdHlfYTRSN3FKQzlVenBYWUhZUk44REE&mode=public&ddrp=1#

For those of you who already use the template…

Two fixes have been done by our colleague Adina, and deployed under the same template url.

Fix number 1. The time trigger not being deleted causing two issues:

1. 1. 1. Time calculations continued updating after finishing session

1. 1. Emails with title “Summary of failures for Google Apps Script: SBTM Session Template” were sent

Now, after the fix, if you end your session using the Finish Session button, you shouldn’t see those failures anymore.

Fix number 2. The timestamp time in column A was not displayed during the whole session

Now, after the fix, the time is visible during the entire session.

For those of you who are getting acquainted with SBTM…

1. You can find out what Session Based Test Management is

• • here in the short version http://www.satisfice.com/sbtm/

• and here in the long version http://www.satisfice.com/articles/sbtm.pdf

2. When you test, you can write your notes using the SBTM Session Template in Google Drive (Spreadsheets)

Where to find it: https://drive.google.com/a/altom.com/previewtemplate?id=0Aqk-dNwZsfwrdHlfYTRSN3FKQzlVenBYWUhZUk44REE&mode=public&ddrp=1#

Hints:

• • When taking notes, there are 4 main tags: Setup, Test, Bug, Off-Charter, each of different colors. We usually use:
    • • Setup to track the time spent on things done before getting to the main goal of the tests. It can be setting up the environment, interacting with the application under test before getting to the screen we need to use, setting up tools to aid our testing, reading specifications, learning about a technology etc.
    • • Test to track the time spent on the actual interaction with the application under test. Some of our colleagues use the tag Test to describe the summary of the test they plan to run, and the tag Note to describe the test result and other observations.
    • • Bug to track the time spent on investigating bugs or logging them. This is time spent not exploring new capabilities of the application under test, but investigating a bug or something we believe is a bug.
    • Off-Charter. Before starting a session, we have in mind a focus area to test that we call charter. With the tag Off-Charter we track the time spent on exploring other areas in the application that are not related to our current focus. Sometimes it’s necessary to be off-charter, e.g we happen to accidentally see a high impact bug, but sometimes it’s not. In those cases we can park the test ideas by using sub-labels like Next Time. This leads into the other category of tags.

• Data, Note, Question, Next Time inherit the color of the main tag in use and count time on those. So each of them can be used on any main label to organize our thoughts in a measurable way.

3. For metrics, you can copy your session to the Dashboard Template

Where to find it: https://drive.google.com/a/altom.com/previewtemplate?id=0Aqk-dNwZsfwrdG9Eazhyc0tSMHNOc1ZRQzZFdFRLMGc&mode=public#.

You can read the instructions here.

4. Now you should see a visual representation of your testing efforts, measured using four dimensions: Setup, Test, Bug and Off-Charter.

Happy testing!

Team Altom