Pitfalls or quirks in moving from Project / Programme Test Strategy to Enterprise Test Strategy?

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I’m currently defining an enterprise / organisational test strategy for the organisation I work for. I’ve written plenty of TS’s for Programmes and Projects in my career, but this is the first at the enterprise level.

While the gap between these 2 levels seems straightforward, I’m keen to understand peoples view on the must haves, pitfalls, and quirks you have encountered, learned from and avoided.

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That depend really on whether you see Project and Programme as being the same thing, for me, they are as different to each other as Enterprise is. Project is a deliverable, Programme is a customer value, while Enterprise is a solution? Hope that does not throw word-salad at your question, but yes, you are right to want to think differently about Enterprise, because it is more like a solution than a project.

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That’s a great way to look at it, thanks!

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My rather glib input was mostly inspired by this interview with the head of software at GM This Interview With GM's Software Head Reveals The Fundamental Mistake GM Made By Rejecting CarPlay and Android Auto - The Autopian

I guess the real advice, until people do start to chime in, is to look at security and supply chain and then at inter-operability and where business constraints are most causing friction and most causing worry, as starting points. And then with that all captured step back, step away from disaster recovery and auditing and similar worries to look at what brings joy to users. To not neglect implicit requirements that the solution is truly performant and long term stable I guess.

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Hi Steve,

When you say enterprise level is that for the whole company/IT team? It might be similar to an organisational test Strategy, Organisational Quality Charter. Name it what fits your context.

This book might be relevant to you:

Some years back, I started to think about strategies based on the work of Simon Wardley (Wardley mapping) and Rumelt (Good strategy, Bad strategy). this could be a place to start as well: Strategy is about Making a Map | Complexity is a Matter of Perspective

all the best on navigating around the pitfalls!

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Good question, @schultzynz. Thanks for asking.

I’ve lent heavily on defining strategies by answering five W’s and an H.

  • Why
  • What
  • How
  • When
  • Who
  • Where

I’ve found this methodology works at most levels. as it’s agnostic to the level.

At the enterprise level perhaps there’s an opportunity to focus more on the business impact of said testing strategy. For example:

  • What costs may be incurred/reduced?
  • What risks is this enterprise-level strategy aiming to mitigate and how does that align with the company goals?
  • How does this strategy connect to revenue, profit and loss?
  • What about headcount and potential hiring requirements? What might be the budget required for those plans?

Defo keen to hear how you get on.

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Hi Jesper

Thanks for the links and inputs which look to be what I’m after.

Enterprise = Organisational :heavy_check_mark:

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Hi Simon

Great minds I use the 5 W’s all the time!

Thanks for the bullet points too, I like the thinking on them and will look to encorporate those thoughts.

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(Cannot access the leadingqualitybook.com website, which is caused by the site not having a leading security quality website certificate… I mean it’s just a site, but it’s going to loose traffic.)

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