The Test Planning Inquiry Technique
Tags: testing, mobile, webdev
Published: 2023-03-24 11:42:08

Making a test strategy is frequently a challenging task. By using the fundamental concepts of cost-benefit analysis and risk analysis, a [test automation platform](https://www.headspin.io/enterprise) can be created by carefully balancing the following aspects of software development:

**Cost of implementation**: Short-term development costs are influenced by the time and degree of complexity required to deploy testable features and test planning for specific situations.

**Cost of maintenance**: The cost of long-term development is impacted by the ease or difficulty of maintaining different tests or test plans. The choice of manual testing also raises overall costs.

**Financial cost**: Some test plans may call for billable resources.

**Benefit**: Too varied degrees, tests can help with productivity and avert problems. Additionally, the effect is more significant the sooner the development life cycle abnormalities can be identified.

**Risk**: Failure scenarios’ probabilities might range from unlikely to likely, and their effects can range from a slight annoyance to catastrophic.

The degree of project importance, implementation specifics, resources available, and team viewpoints all significantly affect how well these aspects are balanced in a plan. Many projects may achieve excellent coverage with high-benefit, low-cost unit tests, but they may also need to consider choices for more extensive tests and complicated corner situations. Mission-critical initiatives must reduce risk to the absolute minimum, necessitating accepting higher costs and investing in thorough testing at all levels.

## Test Plan Vs Strategy

Two typical approaches to creating a testing plan for software need to be clarified before continuing:

**A solitary test planning**: Some projects include a single “test plan” detailing all projects implemented and future testing.

**One test strategy, many plans**: A “test strategy” document and several smaller “test plan” documents are part of specific projects. Test plan often addresses particular features or project updates, whereas strategies typically describe the overall [test strategy](https://www.headspin.io/blog/11-strategies-that-you-can-deploy-for-effective-mobile-application-testing) and goals.

Both of these might be incorporated and embedded into project design papers. Pick what makes sense for your project from these two practical options. In general, stable projects benefit from having a single plan, but fast-changing projects benefit more from often-added techniques and seldom-altered tactics.

**Content**
Making a list of all the questions that require a response is a brilliant start when developing the material for your test strategy. The following lists offer a thorough selection of powerful queries that could or might not relate to your project. Browse the lists and choose anything that applies. When making judgments, be cautious to balance the previously listed aspects. You may create the contents of your test plan by responding to these questions, and you can organize your test plan around the selected material in any way your team wants.

**Risks**
There might be significant project risks considering the following:

- harm to humans or animals
- User data security and integrity
- user privacy Protection of business systems
- Property or equipment damage
- Regulatory and legal concerns
- disclosure of sensitive or secret information
- loss or corruption of data
- loss of revenue
- Cases that cannot be recovered
- SLAs
- prerequisites for performance
- user misinformation
- the effect on other initiatives
- the impact of different initiatives
- Impact on the public image of the firm
- productivity loss

There might be technical vulnerabilities like:

- Features or components that have a reputation for being brittle, hacky, or in need of refactoring
- Platforms or dependencies that commonly provide problems
- Users’ potential to disrupt the system Trends from earlier issues.

### Tools And Infrastructure

**The need for new test frameworks**:
If so, mention them in the plan or include design links.

The need for a new test lab:

If so, mention them in the plan or include design links.

Are you giving those users access to test tools if your project provides a service to other projects?

When users attempt to test their integration with your system, think about offering mocks, fakes, and dedicated staging servers.

How will testing infrastructure, systems, and other dependencies be managed for end-to-end testing? How are they going to be used? How will persistence be established/dismantled? How will you manage necessary migrations between data centers?

#### Process
**Test Surface**: Is it a multi-platform client-server stateful system with an explosion of use cases or a short library with just one method? Highlight potential failure areas while describing the system’s design and architecture.

**Platforms**: Consider including a list of supporting hardware, software, and other items. Specify each platform’s testing procedures and reporting requirements as well.

**Features**: Consider creating a comprehensive list of all components and outlining the testing procedures for specific feature categories.

**What should not be tested**: No test suite can account for every scenario. It’s preferable to be upfront about this and explain why particular strategies shouldn’t be tested. Examples include:

- low-risk,
- low-priority regions,
- complicated situations,
- areas covered by other teams and,
- features that still need to be prepared for testing.

What is covered by small, medium, and big unit, integration, and system tests? Test as much as you can in smaller tests so that more extensive tests have few cases.

Automation is often better when it is possible and economical. All testing may often be automated. There could, however, be valid arguments in favor of manual testing.

## Utility/Conclusion

The audience of the test plan:

While some test plans are read by many, others are only read by a few people. When developing the strategy, consider the readers you anticipate, give them the background information they need to comprehend it, and address any questions you expect, even if all you can say is that you still need to get the solution. Consider seeking a review from every stakeholder, at the very least (project managers, tech leads, feature owners). Consider including the test plan’s contact information so that anyone who reads it may learn more.

_Source: This article is originally published [here](https://www.entertales.com/test-planning-inquiry-technique/)._