Test Strategy and Test Planning
XBOSoft’s software test strategy and planning efforts first identify risk to guide the testing process and ensure that effort is expended in the right places at the right times. The test strategy and plan not only determines what functions and features should be tested, but how, by who, how much time should be allocated, what benefits you should expect (why do it that way) and how you should measure success. It doesn’t have to be long and shouldn’t be, but keeps everyone on the same page and provides a great reference for retrospectives. Here’s an example that we use as a baseline in many of our projects. Download our Software Master Test Plan Template below:
But in addition to testing features and functions, don’t forget to test for quality properties. For example:
- Performance
- Security
- Compatibility
- Learnability
- Usability
- Reliability
It’s easy to overlook some of these non-functional quality properties since defects in these areas are hard to measure and quantify. But going beyond functional testing is where a strategy and plan can guide you to avoid risks where they can hurt you the most. Since “everything is important”, it’s necessary to prioritize where resources are spent. You may not want to address all of these areas all of the time, but you certainly will want to address some of them some of the time. Going beyond functions, features and regression is what takes software quality from good to great.