One of the keys to performance testing is being able to understand the requirements but also to ask the right questions to bridge any gaps.

With that in mind, here are a few example areas and associated questions you can use as a starting point.

Requirements

Do you have documented business processes?

Do you have any SLAs?

Do you have NFRs?

Do you know what are your critical/heaviest used processes?

Do you understand the current or expected volumes?

Do you have define measurable acceptance criteria?

Test Assets

Do you have a preferred test tool?

Do test scripts exist?

Do you have existing test data?

Do you have a performance test environment? If, so how does it compare to production?

Do you have load injectors?

Test Execution

Have any previous tests been completed?

Do you understand the expected scenarios required to test?

Has all the required monitoring been defined and enabled pre-test execution?

If previous tests were undertaken, have the results been retained include associated logs and performance counters?

Reporting

Do you have any previous test results?

Do you have any reporting templates?

Do you have log files, monitors and test result files?

Do you have documented acceptance criteria to report against?

Do you understand the audience for the report?

FURTHER READING

NFRs