Module 16 Capstone
Hours 230.5–268, about 27.5 hours. Spiral pass 3: the person's own product. Assessed at Gate 4.
Purpose
The capstone brings every outcome together, at the person's track depth, on real work for their own team. It is the main evidence that the person can do automated testing at their automation target, and it pays back to the team.
Outcomes
- Learning outcome 12: plan, build or lead, and explain an automated regression suite for a real service.
- Every other outcome, applied at track depth.
Depth by track
| Module | Band 3 | Band 4 quality assurance | Band 4 test engineering | Band 5 quality assurance | Band 6 quality assurance | Band 6 test engineering | Band 7 test engineering | Band 7 test management |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Module 16 Capstone | With support | With support | With support | Independent | Lead or coach | Independent | Lead or coach | Lead or coach |
Session plan
| # | Session | Duration | Format | Who |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hour 230.5: capstone scope agreement | 1 hour | One to one | Person, product owner, mentor |
| 2 | In each 7.5-hour block of the capstone: review with the mentor | 30 minutes a block | One to one | Person, mentor |
| 3 | In each 7.5-hour block of the capstone: capstone working time | About 22.5 hours in all | Individual | Person |
| 4 | Hours 245.5–253: mid-capstone show-and-tell to the team | 15 minutes each | Team | Person, their team |
| 5 | Hours 253–260.5: presentation rehearsal | 1 hour | Breakout | Small groups, mixed bands |
| 6 | Hours 260.5–268: Gate 4 panel, within Gate 4's time | 45 minutes each | Panel | Person, Gate 4 panel |
Module 16 has about 27.5 hours, the same for every track: 4 hours in hours 230.5–238, after Module 15; 6.5 hours in each of the blocks 150–157.5, 157.5–165, and 165–172.5; and 4 hours in hours 260.5–268, which also holds Gate 4. Role foundations takes 1 hour of each of these blocks.
Activities
- Agree the scope at hour 230.5, using your Evidence 7 analysis and Evidence 15 estimate. Record it in the brief for your track.
- Build or lead the work, with a mentor review every 7.5 hours of learning.
- Get pull requests reviewed by developers on your team.
- Show your progress to the team in hours 245.5–253.
- Prepare and rehearse the presentation using presentation-outline.md.
- Present to the Gate 4 panel, including a live run.
Evidence
Evidence 16: a capstone on the person's own team's product, agreed with the product owner and mentor at hour 230.5, and a presentation to the gate panel aimed at a non-technical audience.
| Track | Capstone | Brief |
|---|---|---|
| Band 3 | Triage one week of CI results and raise defects; write 5 Given-When-Then scenarios; make 2 reviewed changes to existing tests. | brief-band-3.md |
| Band 4 quality assurance | Automate 5 manual cases with support, with a spec, running in CI. | brief-band-4-quality-assurance.md |
| Band 4 test engineering | Automate 10 cases, including 2 API tests, and maintain an existing suite over 30 learning hours. | brief-band-4-test-engineering.md |
| Band 5 quality assurance | Automation candidate analysis for the area, and 10 cases automated at browser and API layers, with traceability, with some support. | brief-band-5-quality-assurance.md |
| Band 6 quality assurance | A risk-based automation approach for the area, automated acceptance checks agreed with clinical users, and coaching a Band 4 or Band 5 colleague through their capstone. | brief-band-6-quality-assurance.md |
| Band 6 test engineering | An automated regression suite for a product slice of 15–30 manual cases: plan, browser and API tests, spec, synthetic data, CI, traceability, and handover README. | brief-band-6-test-engineering.md |
| Band 7 test engineering | Reusable fixtures or framework for an area, a pipeline with test selection, one performance or load test based on real clinical demand, and coaching two colleagues. | brief-band-7-test-engineering.md |
| Band 7 test management | An automation strategy and metrics for a product or programme, a business case, an adoption and team development plan, and a small automated suite of their own at the Working target. | brief-band-7-test-management.md |
Presentation: 10 minutes for Band 3 and Band 4, 20 minutes for Band 5 to Band 7.
Assessment
Gate 4 (hour 268) reviews Evidence 14, Evidence 15, and Evidence 16, with the full capability self-assessment and the Part D practical: a live run and explanation of the capstone.
After Gate 4, Module 17 Lean Six Sigma Green Belt runs in hours 268–308. Its Green Belt project often builds on the capstone and its data.
The Gate 4 panel has three people: a lead test engineer or test manager at least one band above the person (chair, not their mentor), a developer from another team, and the training lead. For Band 7 tracks the chair is the head of test or a lead from outside the person's area. The clinical safety officer reviews traceability evidence in writing.
The capstone must be accepted by the product owner. Gate 4 thresholds are in the spec: at least 90% in each of Parts A, B, and C; Part D Meets; no skill more than one level below expected; test engineering at the automation target; capstone accepted.
Resources
- Everything from Modules 7 to 15.
- capstone-scope-agreement.md
- presentation-outline.md
View this document on GitHub materials/modules/module-16-capstone/index.md