How to Build Smart Test Plan and Design for Regression Testing

Hello QA community, today I would like to introduce new test planning and design concept when you are doing regression testing. Simply I would like to call this “Zigzag Testing”. In your QA journey you know what regression testing is, why we need regression testing how to do the regression testing and regression testing tools and configurations etc. By the way QA engineers face some problems when they are doing regression testing.

Following are the major regression testing problems.

• Most of the time requirement or testing scopes have been missed.
• Cannot be identified who are the responsible person for some specific areas.
• Test suites become large. Due to time and budget constraints, the entire regression test suite cannot be executed.
• Minimising the test suite while achieving maximum test coverage remains a challenge.

Preventing these kinds of problems, I built a scratch design. Let me explain how to make it,

1. Mention mainly focused areas within the test, like UI, API, DB, Platforms, Browsers, and estimation of time etc.

2. Mention main requirement Ids that you are mainly focus for regression testing.

3. Build up ZIGZAG design below 1 and 2.

4. Mention Priority areas like high, medium, and low.

5. Mention test scopes and negative scenarios.

6. Mention test scopes and positive scenarios.

7. Behind the Z curve mention who are the responsible people.

Specially mention: This only a mold, you can customise this mold under the requirements.

This design will offer a lot of cover the regression test areas for QA Engineers, Leads and managers. Both manual and automation testers more helpful ‘Zigzag Test Design’ because most of the software company handle their regression suite manual execution as well as automation execution.

Based on the Zigzag test design you can write the test cases and after written test cases can be executed. If you can map all the components into the Zigzag design, you can prevent most of the problems of the regression testing. Most significant thing is this design, QA engineer can cover the more areas in one design.

Finally, this is new concepts for QA industry I hope you will apply this concept day today your testing activities. Actually, Zigzag testing not only for regression testing but also you can apply for other function testing areas like retesting and sanity testing etc.