The document discusses test strategy and its importance. It notes that while many test strategies are not useful, a good strategy can help guide testing. An effective strategy provides an overview of the testing approach and helps identify risks, assumptions, and tasks. It should clarify information needs and how testing will address risks. A strategy evolves over time from initial assumptions to more specific test plans and cases aimed at meeting information goals.

1. Test Strategy
Why Should You Care?
Johan Jonasson
House of Test
www.eurostarconferences.com
@esconfs
#esconfs

4.  I question the usefulness of the vast majority of
test strategies and strategy documents I come
across
 Nevertheless I believe (good) strategy is worth
caring about
 However, strategy should never be a goal in itself,
but a tool that helps us reach our goal

5. “A high-level description of the test levels to be performed and
the testing within those levels for an organization or
programme (one or more projects).”
ISTQB syllabus

6.  A document
 A detailed plan
 Concerned with the logistics of testing
 A collection of test technique definitions
 Defect management process
 Test suspension/resumption criteria
 Entry/exit critera
 Any other boilerplate...

7.  “A strategy is the overarching
direction or design of a campaign,
whether that’s a marketing
campaign, a football season, or a
campaign of war”.
– Fiona Charles
 “The purpose of a test strategy is to
clarify the major tasks and
challenges of the test project.”
– James Bach
 The Big Picture
◦ The direction we’re heading
◦ The ideas and the risks
◦ Tasks & challanges
◦ The thinking
 Tools
◦ Heuristics
◦ Checklists
◦ Contingency plans for dealing with
likely problems

8. High Level
Strategy
Medium Level
Strategy
Low Level
Strategy
Product
Model

9.  Abstraction of strategy
 Not to be confused with process, e.g. Scrum
 As context-independent as possible
 Heuristics based
 Created by taking inventory of existing behaviors and
identifying heuristic methods and patterns in those behaviors
 Inspect and adapt, improve the model

10. HTSM by James Bach

11.  Define information goals
◦ What information do your stakeholders need?
◦ What do you need to know to be able to deliver that information?
◦ Based on your and their needs: What risks do you see? How can you work to
explore, mitigate or prevent the risks?
◦ What assumptions are you making, what questions do you have, what tasks
need doing, etc.
 Find a way to visualize the evolving strategy
◦ Mindmaps
◦ Kanban
◦ Dashboards

12.  Start thinking about coverage needed for your
high level strategy
◦ Requirements
◦ Structural, functional...
◦ Quality characteristics
◦ Coverage heuristics
 Test ideas
 Test cases
Might lead to over-focused
testing. Use with care.
Test case:
set of test case preconditions, inputs (including
actions, where applicable), and expected results,
developed to drive the execution of a test item
to meet test objectives, including correct
implementation, error identification, checking
quality, and other valued information
- ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119

13.  This is what you do every day
 Review your test idea
 Think about information goals
 Think about coverage
 Think about quality characteristics
 Get our your heuristics
 Pick your test techniques
 Frame your testing
Make your own checklists
Mission
Models
Heuristics
Stopping criteria
Valuable information

14.  Concise
◦ Fits on a page, presentation slide or a mindmap
 Evolving
◦ From being assumptions, questions, uncertainty to being more
specific, intentional, practical
 Justified
◦ Frames the testing. Connects information goals to tests with good
reasons

15.  Practical
◦ Likely to succeed or be effective
 Explainable
◦ If you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it; neither will ”they”
 Flexible
◦ Adaptable to changing context. When the terrain change, the map
must change as well

16.  Specific
◦ Be clear and to the point. Remove the boilerplate.
 Encouraging of dialogue and communication
◦ The worst things you can do as a testers is shroud yourself in
mystery. What your stakeholders can’t understand, they will
question, and rightly so.

17.  Strategy guides your planning
 ”Plans are useless, planning is indispensible.” – Eisenhower
 If you don’t know your strategy, the everything that happens
in the project is according to your strategy...
 A good strategy lets you capture and present your ideas early
on in the project and frame your testing later
 It gives you a coverage model to help you decide what to
cover, how to cover it, and...

18. Johan Jonasson
House of Test
johan.jonasson@houseoftest.se
http://blog.johanjonasson.com
http://houseoftest.se
http://commonsensetesting.org
@johanjonasson
johan_jonasson
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