- Shane Ross
- 4 April 2023
Community meetups are at their best when the local leaders present their case studies on testing within their organisations. For the March 2023 Taranaki Test Professionals Meetup, we had exactly that – local industry leader Methanex presenting on their approach to testing on a current major systems replacement project.
Methanex is a major employer and industry leader in the Taranaki region. They operate a complex manufacturing environment that needs to be managed carefully in terms of product inputs and capacity management. One of their key systems in capacity management needed a technology upgrade. Being used to an agile approach for the development and a relatively quick development timeframe, Methanex didn’t want to be tied down with a bureaucratic approach to testing. Yet – with the level of complex calculations in the new application that needed to be verified and the impact of those calculations being wrong – Methanex wanted the testing to be thorough (and traceable) enough to ensure there was good confidence that the high-risk areas of the application were covered in the testing process.
Methanex presented on their implementation and use of lean testing techniques for their application replacement. The role of mind mapping in determining test areas of focus and coverage was discussed, as was the use of pair testing (linking traditional testing expertise with subject matter expertise) to ensure that functional and non-functional areas, which was a highlight for many in the room. The presentation was delivered not by the tester from Methanex but the Subject Matter Expert – which offered good insight into how Lean Testing techniques can bridge that gap between formal testing processes and subject matter expertise.
The Methanex presentation is available here <Link to Presentation PDF>. The presentation generated a lot of after session conversation, and gave good insight into potential topics for our next Taranaki Test Professionals Meetup to be held in late June / early July 2023.