50% of your product development costs may be attributed to testing and how to cut it down

Measuring the costs of software testing is an essential step towards justifying any software testing initiative. This helps determine how much the organization should spend on testing, set aside for dedicated testing resources, and what levels of software testing are reasonable. However, many managers often do not have this information, and the cost of the test phase is not the cost of testing for the project.

So, how can you determine the cost of software testing? Here are some factors that you should consider:

1. Direct Costs of Testing (Indispensable Costs) Direct costs of testing refer to the expenses associated with the actual testing phase. They include:

   1. Reviews: The cost of reviewing the code to identify defects and ensure it aligns with the business requirements

   2. Program testing: The cost of testing the individual programs within the software application to ensure that they function correctly and meet the business needs

   3. Systems testing: The cost of testing the integrated system, including the hardware and software, to ensure that it functions as expected

   4. Acceptance testing: The cost of testing the software application with end-users to ensure that it meets their needs

   5. Test planning and design: The cost of planning the testing process and designing test cases

   6. Computer time: The cost of the time used to run the tests

   7. Test resources: The cost of any equipment or tools needed to carry out the testing

   8. Cost of Terminals, staff, etc.: The cost of any additional resources required to execute the testing phase

2. Indirect Costs of Testing (Due to Poor Testing) Indirect costs of testing refer to the costs incurred due to poor testing practices. These costs include:

   1. Rewriting programs: The cost of rewriting software applications due to defects found after the release

   2. Recovery: The cost of restoring the system after a defect or failure

   3. Corrective action costs: The cost of fixing defects found after the release

   4. Re-keying data: The cost of manually entering data that was lost due to a defect or failure

   5. Failures: The cost of failures or defects found after the release

   6. Analysis meetings: The cost of holding meetings to analyze defects and failures found during testing

   7. Debugging: The cost of fixing defects found during testing

   8. Re-testing: The cost of re-running tests after defects are fixed

To determine the cost of software testing, you must estimate both the direct measurement costs and indirect failure and correction costs. Direct software testing costs typically approach 15 to 25 percent of the total project cost. On the other hand, indirect testing costs, or the costs of poor testing, are usually at least twice the direct costs and may be spectacularly higher.

Determining software testing costs is a crucial first step in planning any improvement initiative and justifying the investment. The benefits of software testing can be tracked, and the results become visible, making it easier to justify more investment in direct testing. However, managers should keep in mind that there are no hard and fast rules for prescribing how much software testing costs "should" be. As long as the investment in software testing shows a positive return in reduced costs of correction and failures, it is justified and adds to the bottom line.

In conclusion, adopting agile testing practices and implementing testing from the beginning can have a significant impact on reducing the overall cost of testing. By incorporating testing into the development process from the outset, potential issues can be identified and addressed earlier, thus reducing the likelihood of expensive fixes later in the product cycle. Additionally, agile testing methodologies emphasize continuous testing and collaboration between developers and testers, leading to more efficient and effective testing processes.

Furthermore, early testing allows for quicker feedback on the product, which means that defects can be addressed and resolved before they become more significant issues. By identifying problems early, development teams can focus their efforts on resolving these issues rather than dealing with a backlog of defects that have built up over time.

Overall, while testing can represent a significant portion of the total cost of product development, implementing agile testing practices and testing from the beginning can help to minimize these costs and ensure that products are delivered on time and within budget.