Articles and Press Coverage

Planit Testing Index 2012 Review

Events | Media Coverage | Planit Testing Index | January 21, 2013

By NZTester Staff Writer
Jan 2013
Source: NZTester

As a precursor to reading this article, I suggest a visit to www.planit.net.au to download this year’s Planit Testing Index Executive Summary – Ed.

7 December 2012 saw the Planit Testing Index roadshow roll into Auckland, the last stop on a 7-date tour around New Zealand and Australia. Sounds more like a rock band itinerary I know however every year Planit surveys the testing landscape in this part of the world and presents its findings in each of the major centres – which is great for number nuts like me who seem to derive an inordinate amount of satisfaction when my own predictions and expectations turn out to be in sync with Planit’s findings.

Article:Planit Testing Index 2012 Review

Project disasters: Are requirements really to blame?

Agile | Media Coverage | Planit Testing Index | July 12, 2012

By Leanne Howard
June 2012
Source: Agile Record

We continually hear about project disasters, cancellations, overruns or over spends. Are requirements really to blame? If they are, can we fix it? Does Agile have a part to play in this?

From the Planit Index for 2011 the following information, gathered from some of the major organisations within Australia and New Zealand, seems to suggest that requirements are perceived to have a major contribution to project failure. While only a small number of projects were actually cancelled – just above 4% – some interesting findings can be derived from investigation of the reasons why these projects failed.

The number one reason for failure was that business requirements or priorities had changed. This aligns with the findings that almost 30% of projects suffered changes to 25% of their scope or more. While organisations have to be flexible to contend with changing conditions, these results point to a weakness in the overall definition of requirements in projects. It is also likely that this issue, with changing business requirements, may also be responsible for many of the projects that fail to achieve satisfactory outcomes due to time and cost overruns.


Leadership and not management in an Agile team

Agile | Media Coverage | June 12, 2012

By Leanne Howard
May 2012
Source: Agile Record

Core to Agile is the Agile manifesto. The first value is “Individuals and interaction over process and tools”. That is not to say that process and tools are to be ignored, but that they are less critical than the individuals that make up the team, how they interact within that team and with their stakeholders. For most individuals to interact effectively they need to feel that they are being listened to, their opinion is valued and that once collectively agreed on a course of action that all will contribute to achieve completion of the task.


When I was thinking about this subject of leadership, not management, I thought that it would be good to get a definition of both, but when I started to do some investigation there are so many out there. Some of which I agree with and others not. So I thought that I would start with one common view and then share with you my view.

Traditional vs. Agile methodologies

Agile | Latest Whitepapers | Media Coverage | March 19, 2012

By Leanne Howard
Account Director, Planit Software Testing
Published: Testing Experience, March 2012

ABSTRACT: How do you collect the metrics to allow you to pick the most appropriate methodology to fit your context?

This paper outlines a study conducted to compare different methodologies using a controlled environment, the same test input documentation and similarly qualified professional testers. Whilst it is a fairly small project the results are striking and contained within this paper some conclusions have been suggested. We also threw in a change of tool and analysed this impact as well!

The methodologies compared were WATERFALL, AGILE and BUG HUNT.
Whitepaper: Traditional vs. Agile methodologies

Minority of software projects delivered problem-free

Media Coverage | Planit Testing Index | November 19, 2010

By Brad Howarth
November 19 2010
Source: iTWire

While major software development project problems are often the stuff of headlines, it seems they are more the rule than the exception – and we are getting worse at them.

According to Planit Sofware Testing’s annual Software Testing Index, only 42 percent of software projects started in the past two years were delivered on time, on budget, and in line with their original scope. This result was a decline from 2009 when 49 percent of projects were reported as being delivered optimally. The Index found that projects were more likely to run over time, cost more than was estimated, or experience changes to more than 25 percent of their original scope.

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