Acceptance Testing… But Make it Fashionable!

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is a task that your stakeholders can be on top of for one week and then they’re out of time the next week.

UAT planning is similar to planning a runway show. We took some tips from Tim Gunn, which helped us improve user acceptance testing for our clients at Fionta.

Step 1: Identify your challenge

UAT can be complicated. You can make your team successful with the right amount planning. These are some tips to help you better understand your problem.

  • Clarify some fundamental questions: What, When, Who, and How?
  • outline user roles, including skill levels
  • Learn the types of testing that are required for your project
  • Determine the timeframes and how they fit into a larger picture.
  • Decide on the documentation standard

Step 2: Draw your pattern

Once you have a basic understanding of the UAT challenge you will want to break it into its components. This is what you need to do:

  • Writing test scripts
  • Plan for testing
  • Managing the testing process and testers
  • Collecting and processing feedback

Now that you have your UAT pattern mapped out, grab your wallet and let us get to the Mood.

Step 3: Get into the Mood

It is important to select the right tools and materials that will work for you, not against you. If you are making a wrap dress, don’t grab a piece of leather. Duh!

It’s easy to get lost at Mood’s accessories aisle. There are so many choices (Basecamp and Jira, Asana etc. It is crucial to choose the right tool for your project. Fionta meets our clients right where they are. Sometimes Excel’s elegance is enough. Sometimes, you may need a couture piece such as Jira.

Consider building a test board if you’re using a robust tool. Fionta loves Kanban boards because they keep our audience interested. To help us navigate the process, we use these swimlanes:

  • Assigned
  • Test
  • Questions
  • Failed
  • Fixing
  • Passed

Step 4: Make your garment

Now that you have a plan in place and all the tools necessary to get started, let’s get going!

A test script is a description of the steps that the user must take to verify that a solution delivers a satisfactory outcome. It is typically one test script per user-story if your project uses user stories.

Everybody will have their own method of writing test scripts. To get buy-in from the project teams, we recommend that you write several scripts. These are the best practices for writing a test script.

  • Take the test by yourself. Write down steps as you go.
  • Make sure you are specific Don’t assume that users will be able to do everything.
    • Generic
      • Make a Contact Record
    • Specific
      • Click on the Contacts tab
      • Click “New” on the Contact page.
      • Please fill out your name, date of birth, and other details.
      • Click Save
  • Create a list to identify the expected outcomes of a test that will be accepted.

Step 5: The fitting

Although your garment is starting to come together, it’s still not ready for runway. It’s now time to fit the garment and teach the model how to wear it. Let’s get them started!

Here’s how Fionta approaches UAT training:

  • Explain to your testers what UAT is, and their role in the testing phase.
  • Define the UAT process
    • Check out the following testing and documentation tools
    • Which tests are they responsible for?
    • Illustration of the steps for troubleshooting, questions, failed tests, feature requests, and other issues
  • Check out all the functionality that users will require to run their tests
  • Take a walkthrough of a test with your partner and discuss your expectations.

Step 6: Take the runway.

The day has arrived, the runway is ready, and the garments are beautiful and flowy. They now need to walk the talk! It is important to keep the testers interested during UAT in order to deliver a fierce look.

You can keep your testers interested by

  • Monitoring the progress of each test
  • It is important that testers have easy access to the key points of contact…office hours can be a great way for consistent and reliable contact
  • Respond promptly

Step 7: Meet the judges

It was a great job by your models! The dresses glided gracefully down the runway! What about the lighting? Chef’s kiss! It wasn’t perfect, but it was close. Now, you will have to answer the judges.

Tim Gunn states that he is “cautiously optimistic” and you feel great about the next steps. These tips will help you get through this challenge: Collect the feedback from your testers and use them as a guide.

  1. Get feedback. Be consistent. Make your tool work for you.
  2. Classify inputs into buckets to process feedback
    1. Bug fixes – within scope
    2. New enhancements – not within scope
  3. Retest the items and fix the bug
  4. Talk to your client and project manager about how to handle any new enhancements.

Step 8: Auf wiedersehen

UAT can be as complex and robust as your project’s needs. This guide will help you create a user acceptance testing process that is “in” every time.

➜