Test execution starts when the entry criteria has been satisfied. Test manager has to ensure that the test execution starts only when entry criteria has been satisfied in order to avoid any unnecessary defects and delays in testing.
When test execution begins, the test analysts start executing the test scripts based on test strategy allowed in the project.
There is some amount of exploratory testing done in the project and test manager has to ensure that he has accounted for some amount of exploratory testing and the way to capture necessary information for exploration.
During test execution test manager should monitor the progress as per the test plan and if required he needs to take control actions in terms of objective and strategy. Requirements Traceability Matrix is used to determine progress and coverage.
Test manager has also to ensure that there are not much false positives or false negatives (false positive occur when test analyst marks the test as failed when the behavior was correct and false negatives occur when test analyst marks the test as pass when the behavior was incorrect). He has to control both these situations and try to keep it in the acceptable level.
Test manager has to also ensure the test analysts are logging results with necessary data as test execution is going on.
Test manager needs to ensure that appropriate configuration management is in place so that test team is clear against which version to log the test results.
