Effective Software Testing: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your Testing

Chapter 5. Test Design and Documentation

Test design and documentation are among the major functions of a testing team. As discussed in Chapter 1, these activities begin not when a software build is placed into the hands of the testing team, but as soon as the first requirements have been approved and baselined. As requirements and system design are refined over time and through system-development iterations, so are the test procedures refined to cover the new or modified requirements and system functions.

Test procedures can benefit from a structured approach that defines the level at which test procedures will operate—black-box or gray-box; the format for test-procedure documentation; and the testing techniques selected, such as examination of ...