Levels of Value from Performance Testing

Performance Testing provides many levels of value.

Level

Value

5

Predict the Profitable
(Monetary Benefit for Assets)
Product: Profit/Cost related to Assets

4

Anticipate the Awesome
(Capacity Planning)
Product: Future Awareness

3

Prove the Powerful
(Able to anticipate expected Response Times and Resource Consumption)
Product: Clear Expectations of Performance

2

Improve the Imperfect
(Discover any Performance Related Issues)
Product: Debugged code and environments

1

Weed out the Wimpy
(Avoid System's which will not Perform)
Product: Disaster Avoidance

Performance Test Measurement Categories

User --> System --> Business

1. User Behavior Workflows, Think Time/Pacing, Volume Profile (Vuser Running Mix)

2. User Activity Sessions, Hits, Connections

3. System Activity Messages, Thread Counts, Queue Depths

4. System Behavior CPU, Memory, Disk ,Network, Data

5. Business Productivity Transaction Rate, Transaction Volume

6. Business Experience Response Times, Errors

Business Effectiveness ??? 

Reasons for IT Performance Testing

5 Distinct Times and Reasons to Performance Test

1. Vendor Trials ..... Try
   
2. System Design and Tuning ..... Try, Tune
   
3. System Test and Approval ..... Try, Tune, Troubleshoot
   
4. Environment Hardening and Right Sizing ..... Try, Tune, Troubleshoot
   
5. Production Problem Troubleshooting ..... Try, Troubleshoot

From zTest

LoadTestTryTuneTroubleshoot.vsd

Hagar and Load Testing

From zTest

Load Test Meaningful

More to come, but how about ...

• Try
• Tune
• Troubleshoot
  

From zTest

1. Anticipate the Awesome
2. Prove the Powerful
3. Improve the Infirm
4. Weed out the Whimpy
   

From zTest

Making Test Meaningful

It Matters!

We test because conditions matter!

We Test What We Care About

I'm definitely care when

• Gmail is slow!
  
• My van does not accelerate properly after going in the shop

I REALLY CARE!

Being Helpful

Test is all about providing helpful information and knowledge. Like when you see someone getting into their car in a parking lot, and say:

"Did you know your tire is almost flat?"
"Why no, thanks! I'll take care of that!"

Classic: Know --> Feel --> Do

Test --> Helpful Knowledge

Balanced SWOT

From Strategy Management

http://ventures.powweb.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/swot_analysis.html