The Test Planning Process: Fill & Download for Free

Software quality engineers work in a variety of fields. You may find them:Assessing whether an airplane's control system meets required performance standards.Designing a plan to test potential human errors in an automated system for drug delivery.Using tools to track software bugs.Making sure a video game won't crash just when you're about to take out the bad guy.Top Software Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer Skills are:A bachelor’s or master's degree in software design, engineering computer scienceAn understanding of software QA methodologies, tools, and processesKnowledge of SQL and scriptingWorking experience in software development and software quality assuranceKnowledge of the current trends and latest advancements.Technical skillsAnalytical skillsCommunication skills - Written and VerbalTeam playerTime Management skillsTechnical SkillsAbility to Code Automated TestsAbility to Work Independently and In Team-Based EnvironmentAnalyze Test ResultsBreak Project Into Attainable Progress GoalsCapable of Using Source Code RepositoriesCommunicate With Technical and Non-Technical ResourcesCreate Test PlansDevelop Standards and Procedures to Determine Product Quality and Release ReadinessDiscover Bugs Within SoftwareDocument Test CasesDrive Innovation and Streamline Overall Testing ProcessExperience With Agile Development ProcessExperience With Web-Based Testing ApplicationsIdentify Areas of ImprovementIdentify, Isolate and Track Bugs Throughout TestingIdentify Potential Problems Users May EncounterInterpret Technical and Business Objectives and ChallengesPerform and Document Risk AnalysisPerform Manual and Automated TestingRecord Test Progress and ResultsResearch and Analyze Product Features Being TestedResearch New tools, Technologies, and Testing ProcessesReview User Interfaces For Consistency and FunctionalitySolid Understanding of QA Testing EnvironmentsThorough Understanding of Software Development Life CyclesWork Closely With Development and Product TeamsTesting and QA goes hand in hand. - So you need to be technically sound in testing as well before you jump to QA.You can pursue below mentioned free courses to attain vital information about software testing concepts and techniques.Software Testing (Amazon Web Services)Software Testing Fundamentals (University of Maryland)Software Testing Management (University of Maryland)Software Engineering Essentials (Technische Universität München)Testing with Agile (University of Virginia)Learning test driven development in Java (Platform: Udemy)Selenium WebDriver training with Java Basics (Platform: Udemy)Introduction to Software Testing (Platform: Alison)Software Testing - Testing Levels and Object -Oriented Program Testing (Platform: Alison)Software Testing - Black-Box Strategies and White-Box Testing (Platform : Alison)Software Testing - Condition Coverage and Mutation Testing Strategies(Platform: Alison)For detailed information on the courses mentioned above, you may refer to this blog about Top 11 Free Software Testing Courses for Beginners.Hope this was resourceful to you. Happy testing!Tia Mongla,Product Specialist at LambdaTest

During software development cycle, test planning is a very important step. It ensures that we conform to a specific path, on the course of which we are going to develop the software. Test planning determines the lists of tasks and milestones which will be used to track the progress of process.A test plan is the official documentation that these scope and activities. It gives you a baseline while formally testing a software product or a module.The ISTQB definition of Test Plan mentions this :A document describing the scope, approach, resources and schedule of intended test activities. It identifies among st others test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks, who will do each task, degree of tester independence, the test environment, the test design techniques and entry and exit criteria to be used, and the rationale for their choice,and any risks requiring contingency planning. It is a record of the test planning process.Test plans can be defined at different stages of project. As such there are different types of test plans :Master Test Plan : This is a high level documentation that unifies all other sub-modules test plans. This is generally a single master test plan for a single project.Testing Level Specific : These test plans are specific to the level of testing that is undergoing. They may be unit, functional, integration , System testing or UAT (user acceptance testing) test plans.Testing Type : This may be based on the type of testing- like load/performance testing, security test plan, UI/UX testing etc.What Does A Test Plan Contains : The contents of a test plan is not defined. It can vary depending upon the processes or as per the standards set up by the company. Some times the test management tools also effect the contents of a test plan (my company has this).A general format as described by IEEE standard for software test documentation describes this following items to on in a test plan :Test plan identifier : Unique identifying reference.Introduction : A brief introduction about the project and to the document.Test items: A test item is a software item that is the application under test.Features to be tested: A feature that needs to tested on the AUT.Features not to be tested: Identify the features and the reasons for not including as part of testing.Approach: Details about the overall approach to testing.Item pass/fail criteria: Documented whether a software item has passed or failed its test.Test deliverables: The deliverables that are delivered as part of the testing process,such as test plans, test specifications and test summary reports.Testing: tasks All tasks for planning and executing the testing.Environment: needs Defining the environmental requirements such as hardware, software, OS, network configurations, tools required.Responsibilities: Lists the roles and responsibilities of the team members.Staffing and training needs : Captures the actual staffing requirements and any specific skills and training requirements.Schedule : States the important project delivery dates and key milestones.Risks and Mitigation : High-level project risks and assumptions and a mitigating plan for each identified risk.Approvals : Captures all approvers of the document, their titles and the sign off date.If you want to have an even greater explanation, you can refer to this link : Test plan sample: SoftwareTesting and Quality assurance TemplatesThere is a test plan template at the end of the page which you can use for reference.

I'll break my answer up into what software testing is, and what software testing is not.Software testing is:Software testing is all about creating INFORMATION. This information is primarily centered on how well the software satisfies the needs of it's intended users.This information typically includes:Bugs reports including detailed descriptions of how to reproduce the bugs.Metrics which make it easier for stake holders to understand the state of the quality of the system (# of open bugs, % of application testedTest plans which should details in general terms what was tested and how. Test plans are are often based on some form of written specification, but good plans go beyond the written specifications and infer the the requirements which were not written.Test Coverage information, How much of the application was tested, and how much was not tested. Under what conditions was the software tested (was it tested on a simple one-machine deployment, or was it tested on a production-like multi-tennant infrastructure).There is literally no end to the kinds of tests that can be run. Typically kinds of tests are:Functional (Does the application do what it's users need it to, does it solve the problem it is intended to address).Performance (does the application behave properly with 1, 100, 1000, 10,000 concurrent users)Reliability testing (what happens when one of the application or database servers loses power).Usability testing (will people know how to use your application, what amount of training is expected/required for your users).While there is some formal process to testing, ultimately I feel that good testing is an art. Like any art it draws on a wide variety of disciplines, requiring lots of skills and experiences. There is never enough time to do complete and comprehensive testing, thus it is essential that testers work with stakeholders and developers to ensure the testing that is done is as efficient as possible.Software testing is NOT:Software testing is not "gatekeeping". A testers job is not to control the quality of a release, a tester's job is to provide information to the stakeholders so that they are able to make informed decisions on whether to release or not.Software testing is not being an adversary to developers. To produce quality software it is essential that developers and testers maintain quality and respectful relationships.Software testing is not where you put people who aren't qualified to develop. Chances are if they aren't good at coding, they wont be good at testing. I have seen this mistake more often than any other.