Share the plan.

► Ways to Share

o Engage designers and stakeholders in the test planning process.

o Actively solicit opinions about the test plan.

o Do everything possible to help the developers succeed.

o Help the developers understand how what they do impacts testing.

o Talk to technical writers and technical support people about sharing quality information.

o Get designers and developers to review and approve all reference materials.

o Record and reinforce agreements.

o Get people to review the plan in pieces.

o Improve reviewability by minimizing unnecessary text in test plan documents.

► Goals

o Common understanding of the test process.

o Common commitment to the test process.

o Reasonable participation in the test process.

o Management has reasonable expectations about the test process.

► Status Check

o Is the project team paying attention to the test plan?

o Does the project team, especially first line management, understand the role of the test team?

o Does the project team feel that the test team has the best interests of the project at heart?

o Is there an adversarial or constructive relationship between the test team and the rest of the project?

o Does any member of the project team feel that the testers are “off on a tangent” rather than focused on important testing tasks?