The thought process in planning tests
At a high level, you need to consider the purpose served by the testing work. In terms of the overall organizational needs, this purpose is referred to variously as the test team's mission or the organization's
testing policy.
In terms of the specific project, understanding the purpose of testing means knowing the answers to questions such as:
• What is in scope and what is out of scope for this testing effort?
• What are the test objectives?
• What are the important project and product risks?
• What constraints affect testing (e.g., budget limitations, hard deadlines, etc.)?
• What is most critical for this product and project?
• Which aspects of the product are more (or less) testable?
• What should be the overall test execution schedule and how should we decide the order in which to run
specific tests?
In addition, it is need to decide how to split the testing work into various levels (e.g., component, integration, system and acceptance).
Moving down into the details, what makes a plan a plan - rather than a statement of principles, is that the author specifies in it who will do what when and how. Resources are required to carry out the work. These are often hard decisions that require careful consideration and building a consensus across the team, including with the project manager.
testing policy.
In terms of the specific project, understanding the purpose of testing means knowing the answers to questions such as:
• What is in scope and what is out of scope for this testing effort?
• What are the test objectives?
• What are the important project and product risks?
• What constraints affect testing (e.g., budget limitations, hard deadlines, etc.)?
• What is most critical for this product and project?
• Which aspects of the product are more (or less) testable?
• What should be the overall test execution schedule and how should we decide the order in which to run
specific tests?
In addition, it is need to decide how to split the testing work into various levels (e.g., component, integration, system and acceptance).
Moving down into the details, what makes a plan a plan - rather than a statement of principles, is that the author specifies in it who will do what when and how. Resources are required to carry out the work. These are often hard decisions that require careful consideration and building a consensus across the team, including with the project manager.
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