Effect of Poor Project Management on the Software Testing Phase

Effect of Poor Project Management on the Software Testing Phase
By C. Gopalakrishnan

Many a times, I have seen Project Managers do an excellent job during Project Planning or Scheduling. They do a Text Book like project Planning, Work Breakdown, WBS scheduling. Unfortunately, despite all the planning, the Software Projects ultimately end up as waterfall model and thus the Software Testing Phase acquires the slippages taken place early. Thus, there is a tendency to whip the testers to complete the testing quickly so as to maintain the delivery date. Most of the time, the project managers and surprisingly the senior management forget that the code may require three or more cycles of testing. (I have heard testers commenting that the developers understand the requirements only after the third cycle of testing).

The software sometimes gets released even before the completion of test phase. Many customers include penalty clause for delayed delivery of the software and not either penalising poor quality or linking the delivery with acceptable quality criteria. Thus, most of the service company management are obsessive with supplying the software in time, and turning a nelsons eye on the poor quality.

C. Gopalakrishnan is a thorough professional with more than 25 years of Senior Management experience in Software Delivery, Project Management, Quality and Testing. He has an extensive experience in Project Execution and Delivery, Project Management and Monitoring, Customer Relations Management and Quality Assurance including Software Testing. His professional blog can be found here.