The decision when to stop software testing may be divided in two different parts:
In the narrow context we may ask: “When to stop testing for a specific test activity?’ This part is generally associated with testing sub-stages.
In the broadest sense we may ask: “When to stop all the main test activities?”.
This question is of equal value to: “When to stop software testing and release the product?”
Decision to stop software testing may frequently be made in 2 common ways:
Resource-based criteria
There are such stopping criteria:
- Stop when you run out of time
- Stop when you run out of money
Such criteria are irresponsible, although they may be employed if product schedule or cost are the prevalent concerns for the product in question.
Activity-based criteria
It is generally used in such form: stop software testing when you finish all planned test activities.
On the global scale, the completion of testing is associated with product release, which defined the level of quality that a client or a user could anticipate. But in the general software testing process, this decision is associated with reaching of quality purposes.