PRINCE2 Project

The testing phase of any project is when you expect to see all of your hard work pay off. This is when you should find that the processes or systems that you put in place work exactly as they should do.

Yet, what will you do if you discover a lot of fails when you begin your testing on a PRINCE2 project? Will all of your plans go up in smoke because of this? Or can you work out a way to get back on track despite this setback?

Fix the Fails

The most obvious point here is to fix anything that is wrong. In some cases this might be relatively simple, but on other projects it could turn out to be a hugely complicated task to try and sort out the errors.

Naturally, once the problems have been fixed you need to go back and test everything again. Even if the original problem has been resolved, there might have been a knock-on effect elsewhere that now needs to be addressed.

Having said that, you might find that there is a better approach than just trying to fix everything. Instead, you might see that it makes sense to look at the following points before going any further.  

Consider If You Tested the Wrong Things or in the Wrong Order

A big part of any PRINCE2 project is the plan that you put together at the very start. However, maybe you didn’t dedicate enough time to the planning of the testing phase before you got around to doing this.

This could mean that you were testing the wrong things in the first place. Or maybe you did things in the wrong order, so that you tested elements that weren’t ready to be tested? You might also see that your testing is fine but it was the original work that has been poorly.

It may be that you are happy to re-write the testing plan again. If so, the sooner you get this started the quicker you will be able to start testing again in the right way.

Look at the Skills and Development Needs of the Team

In a lot of cases, the testing fails can be down to a lack of experience and skills in your project team. This can lead to a number of different reasons that need to be looked at as soon as you can, before your plan slips too badly behind.

Have your team member writing the test scripts badly?  Or have they carried out the work badly to start with? It is important to work out where this phase has gone wrong before you set about trying to put things right.

It might be that you have team members who need to take their PRINCE2 training London to get up to speed on how to deal with these projects. Alternatively, it might be training on a certain type of software that they need.  

Plan for More Testing

Above all, you will need to plan more testing if you have encountered problems before now. For a start, you need to re-test anything that has failed the initial testing.

In addition, these issues will probably make you wonder whether there are other problems lurking out there. Should you look to carry out more testing on other areas, to see if you come across issues there too?

This is a good moment to sit down and re-consider your overall testing plan. By sticking to PRINCE2 principles and planning extensively, you can look ahead to the future with a lot more confidence in your testing results.