Effective Test Strategies and Plans

Getting to the Root of Software Delivery Issues

Effective Test Strategies and Plans

Overall Course Summary 

A 1 day course which aims to help both new and experienced test managers explore ways of producing Test Strategies and Test Plans which better support the delivery of Effective Testing and produce documents which remain relevant throughout the duration of the project for which they are written

• The course begins by looking at what the key differences between a Test Strategy and a Test Plan should be in terms of content, purpose and level of detail
• There will then be couple of sessions focussing on how to get both the tone and the detailed content of the Test Strategy right and how to keep it relevant
• Followed by sessions which cover how your Test Plan(s) should relate back to the Strategy they are written in support of
• How to ensure that test Plans also remain relevant, often via the use of links to other low level project documents
• And a concluding session in which we review all of the above and ensure that everyone is happy to apply the various concepts to their own project on their return to the office
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Session

Description

Training Material

  • Provides an Overview of the course material and examines why on so many occasions these Documents do not prove effective
  • Reminds attendees that to fully reap the benefits of improvements to these Test Documents you will also require
    • An effective test process
    • The right team of testers behind you
    • Effective working relationships with other stakeholders
  • This session explains the key difference between Test Strategies and Test Plans
  • Defines the different purpose to which document type should be put 
  • And explains why in practice these documents so often end up having less impact than planned
  • Your Strategy is much more likely to win widespread acceptance if you adopt the right tone
  • This session will cover 
    • The best point at which to produce a test strategy
    • How these documents should relate to the overall project strategy
    • The best way to address your audience
    • Discuss ways of creating a favourable environment into which your test strategy will be presented
  • No 2 test strategies will ever be exactly the same as the scope and priorities of every project are different
  • Rather than working through a predefined list of topics which ALWAYS have to be included an effective test manager should
    • Include only topics which are of direct relevance
    • Give priority to those topics which are most crucial to a successful delivery
    • Include success criteria against which the delivery of the strategy can be objectively judged
    • Regularly review their strategy against the progress of the project in real life and take appropriate action which a significant divergence is identified 
  • Exercise
  • Ask participants to apply these principles to one of their own projects and then as a group review the results
  • Session Covers
    • How the detail of the Test Strategy and Test Plan should interrelate
    • Whether a project with multiple testphases should have One or many Plans
    • What to put in a Test Plan and where to rely on other low level project documents instead
    • How the Test Plan has a very different focus to the Test Strategy and how the structure and format of your document should reflect this
    • How to keep test plans relevant and what to do when Test plan and reality begin to significantly diverge
  • Exercise – Strategy or Plan 
  • asks participants to decide the best way in which to document responses made to particular sets of project changes  
  • Bringing the course to a close this session revisits and summarises the following topics
    • How the detail of the Test Strategy and Test Plan should interrelate
    • Whether a project with multiple testphases should have One or many Plans
    • What to put in a Test Plan and where to rely on other low level project documents instead
    • How the Test Plan has a very different focus to the Test Strategy and how the structure and format of your document should reflect this
    • How to keep test plans relevant and what to do when Test plan and reality begin to significantly diverge 
  • Exercise – Strategy, Plan or Other 
  • A recap on the whole area asking participants across a variety of common areas to decide in each case what should be written in the Strategy, what should be set out in the Plan and what should be maintained within other low level project documents
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