Test managers need to conduct non-functional testing as well. If they fail to do so, it may result in detection of serious quality issues in the system after its release, which could prove catastrophic for the product as well. Common examples of non-functional testing includes performance testing, security testing etc.

Many non-functional test need lots of investment in terms of time, effort and money. So depending upon the potential risks and resources available, QA Manager / Test Manager has to decide which test are relevant to an application.

Test Manager should distribute some of the test planning duties to Technical Test Analysts if he/she is not technically equipped to handle all planning aspects. The general points the manager may assign to the Technical Test Analyst include:

• Relevant test tools
• Stakeholder requirement
• Security
• Test environment
• Organization factors

How non-functional tests integrate with software development lifecycle is another aspect that Test Managers also need to consider.

One of the most common mistakes here is conducting non-functional testing after the functional testing is complete. However, this can lead to delayed identification of severe non-functions problems.

Therefore, prioritization and sequence of non-functional tests must be done as per the risks involved. Normally, non-functional risks can be easily reduced in the early phases of software testing and development.

For instance, if user interface prototyping is done in the system design phase, its usability assessment can enable early identification of defects. If usability assessment is deferred, the potential defects can delay testing schedules.

In incremental lifecycles like Agile, one factor that negatively affects non-functional tests that need sophisticated testing frameworks is the rate of change in the iterations. Test design and test implementation tasks that take longer time than a single iteration must be done independent of the iteration itself.

In the next topic we discuss how to manage Experience Based Testing & look at Test Sessions.

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