6.2.3 Success Factors for Tools

Success factors for evaluation, implementation, deployment, and on-going support of tools within an organization include:

• Rolling out the tool to the rest of the organization incrementally

• Adapting and improving processes to fit with the use of the tool

• Providing training, coaching, and mentoring for tool users

• Defining guidelines for the use of the tool (e.g., internal standards for automation)

• Implementing a way to gather usage information from the actual use of the tool

• Monitoring tool use and benefits

• Providing support to the users of a given tool

• Gathering lessons learned from all users

It is also important to ensure that the tool is technically and organizationally integrated into the software development lifecycle, which may involve separate organizations responsible for operations and/or third party suppliers. See Graham 2012 for experiences and advice about using test execution tools.