Take your typical project.
New code appears in pieces – the front end is ready, but the API that front end makes request on isn’t even on a test server yet. There is a performance optimization project going on the side.
One tester is dealing with a critical support issue, another is supposed to get a new feature any minute now, and the last is completely blocked.
This is normal life in software testing. Work comes in fits and starts, and is often hard to predict.
How do we manage the flow of work and keep testers productive? Here are a few things that have worked for me.