Test Planning Summary

Summary

1. Decompose your software into a number of 'axes' representing different aspects of the

system under test

2. Further decompose each axis of the software into sub-units or 'elements'

3. For each element in each axis, decide how you are going to test it

4. Prioritise your tests based on your best available knowledge

5. Estimate the effort required for each test and draw a line through your list of tests where

you think it appropriate (based on your schedule and budget)

6. When you execute your test cases, refine your plan based on the results. Focus on the

areas which show the most defects, while maintaining broad coverage of other areas.

Your intuition may be your best friend here!

Risky code can often be identified through 'symptoms' like unnecessary complexity, historical

occurrences of defects, stress under load and reuse of code.

Use whatever historical data you have, the opinions of subject matter experts and end users and

good old common sense. If people are nervous about a particular piece of code, you should be too.

If people are being evasive about a particular function, test it twice. If people dismiss what you think

is a valid concern, pursue it until you're clear.

And finally, ask the developers.

They often know exactly where the bugs lurk in their code.