What is the best way to design a test strategy for all aspects of your product?

Use couple of minutes to think your product or solution vision, is it clear for you? One problem I have seen is that vision or product goal is not communicated to all or people don't care about it, but actually a good vision is very powerful. It helps everyone to focus to the same goal and it also boosts innovation. When thinking testing and how to define a good test strategy you need to understand your product goals.

Before you start to think which methods or tools to use, it is useful to define test strategy. You should start to define is the target of testing to find faults, validate requirements or both. If you focus to find faults then please remember that the amount of possible test cases is infinite. I have used successfully Risk-based test method as that way you can minimize possible problems to your customers. When you define your test strategy I recommend to define there how you are going to use test automation, especially for regression testing, as that will help you to build efficient Continuous Integration system. Utilize also Shift-left principle as it helps you to get feedback faster.

There is a big difference how to define test levels in waterfall and Agile way of working. When you use Agile then I have found useful to phase testing according to work item implementation. For example if you have devided requirement to features and user stories, then have also test phases accordingly (feature tests and story tests). Please note that both can contain all kind of testing activities (e.g. functional, performance, security ect.). This helps you to deploy Shift-left principles and get feedback faster also from end users.

My 3 most important poists are: visualize, visualize and visualize. It is the best way to create transparency and it supports empowerment of teams. Have a dashboards to show in real time test execution progress, test status and all metrics you are collecting. This way you boots continuous learning and improvement.

Test strategy is not a static document you define ones and then forgot but a dynamic tool to support your testing activities. So take care that it is reviewed reqularly with everyone and updated according to feeback.

Performance Benchmarking - Include performance benchmarking. Assess the product's scalability, responsiveness, and stability under varying load conditions to identify and address potential performance bottlenecks. Exploratory Testing Emphasis - Incorporate exploratory testing. Allow testers the freedom to explore the application dynamically, uncovering unforeseen issues and providing valuable insights beyond scripted test cases. User Story Validation - Validate against user stories. Align testing with user stories and acceptance criteria to ensure that each feature meets the specified requirements and adds value to end users.

The test strategy remains dynamic during the initial phases, evolving in tandem with product development, incorporating changes and adapting to emerging technologies. For instance, if automation is initially constrained by tool or resource limitations, these constraints may be excluded in the initial strategy design. Subsequently, should access to additional tools or resources become available, prompting modifications to the product strategy, the testing strategy will undergo corresponding adjustments to accommodate these multifaceted factors.

Designing a comprehensive test strategy for a vehicle involves multiple stages. Begin by defining test objectives, identifying critical components, and establishing testing criteria for safety, performance, durability, and compliance. Create a mix of simulation-based testing, controlled laboratory tests, and real-world driving scenarios. Include tests for electronics, mechanical systems, safety features, and overall vehicle performance. Iterative testing, feedback incorporation, and rigorous validation are key to refining the test strategy.