patterns & practices Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications now available!!

Today we have released the final version of our patterns & practices Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications. This guide provides an end-to-end approach for implementing performance testing. Whether you're new to performance testing or looking for ways to improve your current performance-testing approach, you will gain insights that you can tailor to your specific scenarios. The main purpose of the guide is to be a relatively stable backdrop to capture, consolidate and share a methodology for performance testing. Even though the topics addressed apply to other types of applications, we focused on explaining from a Web application perspective to maintain consistency and to be relevant to the majority of our anticipated readers.

Purpose of the guide

• Consolidate real-world lessons learned around performance testing.
• Present a roadmap for end-to-end performance testing.
• Narrow the gap between state of the art and state of the practice.

Key Learnings from the Guide

• The core activities of performance testing.
• Values and benefits associated with each type of performance testing.
• How to map performance testing to agile
• How to map performance testing to CMMI
• How to identify and capture performance requirements and testing objectives based on the perspectives of system users, business owners of the system, and the project team, in addition to compliance expectations and technological considerations.
• How to apply principles of effective reporting to performance test data.
• How to construct realistic workload models for Web applications based on expectations, documentation, observation, log files, and other data available prior to the release of the application to production.

Download the guide.
Read the guide online.

Please provide feedback on the guide, so we can improve on any issues missed.

~Later

Presentation Blues - Some Insights

Recently we have been working on "Performance Testing Guide", we did a presentation today on that topic. The presentation turned out to be less interactive then what we had expected. That got me thinking, what might have been the reason? and what could we have done different, to make it as successful as some of our other presentations?

There might have been number of reasons, but the primary reasons are that, either the audience was overwhelmed with the information we presented, which I like to think was the case, or may be we did not had the right agenda and audience thought they were betrayed.

The more I thought the more I realized that a successful presentation was cooperative function, everyone has to pitch-in to make it successful. A presenter needs to have all the skills and tools, but that alone does not guarantee the success. So here is my breakdown of cooperative function.

• As a presenter, understand the target audience - set up an agreed agenda for what exactly they are looking for.
• As a presenter, if you don't fit the bill, deny the opportunity.
• As a organizer of presentation, open a dialog at appropriate juncture, because audience might take time to open up, this will encourage audience to participate, and also comfort and encourage the presenter.
• As audience, if a presentation is not addressing your expectation, ask the right questions to get what you are looking for, after all you have invested your precious time here.

If we follow this simple mantra, I am sure everybody's time will be well invested.

~Later