Test plans and how best to write them

Question

We're trying to figure out the best way to write tests in our test plan. Specifically, when writing a test that is meant to be used by anyone including QA staff, should the steps in the test be very specific or more broad giving the tester more leeway in how the task can be accomplished. As a very simple example, if you're testing opening a document in word processing document, should the test read:

1. Using the mouse, open the file menu
2. Choose "Open File..." in the file menu
3. In the open file dialog that appears, navigate to x and double-click the document called y

OR

1. Bring up the file open dialog
2. Open the file y

Now I realize one answer is probably going to be "it depends on what you're trying to test" but I'm trying to answer a broader question here: If the test steps are too specific do we risk a) making the testing process to laborious and tedious and more importantly b) do we risk missing something because we wrote down too specific a path to achieve a goal. Alternatively, if we make it broad do we depend too much on the whims of the tester at the time and lose crucial testing of paths that are more common to customers/clients?

Answer 1

My first question would be - why isn't your QA department writing the test plans? Typically, software developers provide QA with a functional spec of how the software is supposed to work and then QA creates test plans based on that.

With that said, I would suggest being very specific with the steps since you are detailing how things are supposed to work. It is then the job of the tester to make sure that your specific steps get the desired results and it is also their job to deviate from the plan and try to break things.

If there are multiple ways to achieve a goal, you need to describe each path to get there.

Answer 2

I'm not a tester but in my opinion it is vital to document the "UI route" that the test must take to avoid any confusion.

I have worked on countless defects that I could not reproduce simply because I was not accessing the function from the same UI path as the tester was. e.g. Right Click menu vs Toolbar or functions that can be carried out from various dialogs, etc. etc.