Determine System Architecture
During this activity, the performance tester meets with (typically technical) stakeholders to determine both the physical and programmatic architecture of the system or application for both the production and test environments. In designing an effective test and engineering strategy, the performance tester needs to be aware of which components or tiers of the system communicate with one another and how. It is also valuable to understand the basic structure of the code. Knowing these items early in the project allows the performance tester to identify high risk areas early.
