Test plans and how best to write them
- by Karim
We're trying to figure out the best way to write tests in our test plan. Specifically, when writing a test that is meant to be used by anyone including QA staff, should the steps in the test be very specific or more broad giving the tester more leeway in how the task can be accomplished. As a very simple example, if you're testing opening a document in word processing document, should the test read:
Using the mouse, open the file menu
Choose "Open File..." in the file menu
In the open file dialog that appears, navigate to x and double-click the document called y
OR
Bring up the file open dialog
Open the file y
Now I realize one answer is probably going to be "it depends on what you're trying to test" but I'm trying to answer a broader question here: If the test steps are too specific do we risk a) making the testing process to laborious and tedious and more importantly b) do we risk missing something because we wrote down too specific a path to achieve a goal. Alternatively, if we make it broad do we depend too much on the whims of the tester at the time and lose crucial testing of paths that are more common to customers/clients?
