Test Strategies

 What is a Test Strategy?

A test strategy is an outline that describes the testing approach of the software development cycle.

1. It is NOT just a document- it reflects the ideas around governing the choice of tests.

2. CONTEXT driven- dependent on factors such as software/ customer base/ teams previous experiences/ past models used

3. What and Why rather than how. 

4. Eg- front end web- looking at accessibility/ usabilities, or is it just an API so just needs to work efficiently. 

5. Think about the hats!

What to include in a Test Strategy.

1. Important to look at Risk Mitigation. (the more risks, the more tests) 

   1. What risks are we mitigating in the unit tests?

   2. What risks are we dealing with in system testing?

2. What are we trying to achieve

3. How deep are we going?

This isn\’t war and peace!

1. If it is hundreds of pages long, no one will read it. 

Who writes/ designs Test Strategies?

1. Everyone!

   1. Devs

   2. Whole Team

   3. Stakeholders

   4. Other teams

   5. Start with Risk analysis

   6. Technical Architect

In Agile working, this is a living document, which can be added to/ changed/ modified/ pulled apart as they go through. 

Different to a Test Plan

A Plan, answers How and When questions. 

It is a set of ideas to guide your test project

Examples:-

1. How will the functional testing occur?

   1. Exploratory

   2. Automation?

2. What kind of performance testing will be carried out?

3. Plan = Strategy + Logistics

Heuristic Test Strategy Model- James Bach