What is the best way to format your test plans and strategies?

1 Choose a suitable template

When formatting test plans and strategies, one of the first steps is to choose a suitable template that meets your project needs and standards. A template can help you organize your information, avoid missing important details, and follow a common structure. You may use existing templates from your organization, industry, or online sources, or create your own based on your preferences and requirements. Common elements of a test plan or strategy template include a test document identifier (a unique name or code for your test document), an introduction (a brief overview of the purpose, scope, and objectives of your test document), a test approach (a description of the testing methodology, techniques, tools, and resources you will use), a test scope (a definition of what features, functions, or components you will test and what you will not test), test criteria (specifying the conditions, standards, or metrics to determine success or failure of testing), test risks (identifying and analyzing potential threats, challenges, or uncertainties that may affect testing), a test schedule (a plan of activities with tasks, milestones, and deadlines to execute testing), and test deliverables (outputs, artifacts, or reports produced or received as a result of testing).

2 Use clear and concise language

When formatting your test plans and strategies, it is important to use clear and concise language that is straightforward to understand, follow, and verify. Avoid ambiguous or complex words that may lead to confusion. Additionally, use consistent terminology, spelling, grammar, and punctuation throughout the document. To achieve this goal, use active voice instead of passive voice, simple and direct sentences instead of long and complicated ones, bullet points or numbered lists instead of paragraphs when presenting multiple items or steps, and tables or charts instead of text when presenting data or comparisons. For example, write "We will test the login feature" instead of "The login feature will be tested," "We will use Selenium to automate the test cases" instead of "The test cases will be automated by using the Selenium tool," "The test criteria are: - Functional correctness - Performance efficiency - User satisfaction" instead of "The test criteria are functional correctness, performance efficiency, and user satisfaction," and "The test results are shown in the table below" instead of "The test results are as follows: for the login feature, we achieved 90% coverage, 95% pass rate, and 80% user satisfaction; for the registration feature, we achieved 85% coverage, 90% pass rate, and 75% user satisfaction."

3 Follow a logical and consistent format

A final step to format your test plans and strategies is to employ a logical and consistent format that facilitates readers' navigation, comprehension, and verification of your test document. Utilizing headings, subheadings, labels, and captions to divide your test document into sections, subsections, and elements is important. Additionally, you should leverage fonts, colors, styles, and symbols to emphasize or differentiate various elements. To follow a logical and consistent format, you can use a table of contents to provide an overview of your test document structure and content; include a header and a footer to display the test document identifier, title, date, version, and page number; apply different levels of headings to indicate the hierarchy and relationship of your test document sections and subsections; utilize labels and captions to describe your test document elements; and use fonts, colors, styles, and symbols to distinguish your test document elements. By following these tips, you can format your test plans and strategies in a way that promotes testing quality, efficiency, and communication.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?