Three reasons why your test plan is failing

Documenting a test plan can be complicated. When tasked with putting one together there are many ways to do it and it can feel overwhelming. While there are many approaches, there are a small number of common reasons why a test plan fails to do what it’s supposed to do. Here are three reasons why your test plan is failing.

1. It’s too long

What happens if I don’t include that? Surely it’s better to add it than to omit it and get caught out later? Possibly not. It’s completely understandable to put certain information in a test plan just to be on the safe side. Yet how frustrating is it to find that not many key stakeholders have read it? That's a missed opportunity to solicit their important feedback. Time is precious and it's time to get to the point — the most important things first — and consider the detail for later.

2. Your target audience is unclear

Who are you sharing your test plan with and for what reason? Who is the target audience? Often the test plan is shared with too many stakeholders each with different needs – and in turn, the test plan doesn’t land well with any of those stakeholders. Or it’s not shared with anyone under the premise that “it’s just useful to me”. It’s a missed opportunity to not solicit feedback and ideas from key stakeholders. Tailor each edition of the test plan to a specific audience.?????

3. It’s not actioned focused

What is your test plan informing you and others of what will happen, and in what order? Sometimes a test plan is written for the sake of documenting something and doesn’t state why something is important, how and who will do what and by when. Is a test plan useful if it isn’t action-focused? How does it motivate and inspire yourself and others to take action?

Claire R. offers many excellent solutions to the three reasons why your test plan is failing. Check out The One Page Test Plan. ??