Test estimation is not an easy task. Various schools of thoughts suggest varied strategies of estimation. A number of techniques are available for task estimation. Before we talk about any of the estimation technique, which is out of the scope of current post, we should talk about the activities that need to be kept in mind while estimating testing effort.
Majorly, the activities can be categorized under Test Planning, Requirement Analysis, Test Case writing and/ or scripting, Test Case/ Script execution, Training, Defect Reporting and Tracking, Regression and Retesting and, Reporting. Then we should incorporate following possibilities in the real life scenarios: possibility or parallelization of tasks, dependencies and roadblocks and, risks. Let us dig further into each of them.