QA Revolution

7 Great Reasons to Write Detailed Test Cases

AI in software testingLet’s face it, writing detailed test cases takes a lot of time and effort.  As a tester, I know this is very tedious work.  However, I know first hand there are some tremendous benefits that far outweigh the time involved.  It certainly is not easy, but if planned out properly can be done extremely efficiently.  You will probably get some push back in certain areas and using certain methodologies but it is extremely important in my opinion.  Agile for example, is not in favor over detailed documentation.

 

 

Here are 7 Great Reasons to Write Detailed Test Cases

  1. Planning:  It is important to write detailed test cases because it helps you to think through what needs to be tested. Writing detailed test cases takes planning.  That planning will result in accelerating the testing timeline and identifying more defects.  You need to be able to organize your testing in a way that is most optimal.  Documenting all the different flows and combinations will help you identify potential areas that might otherwise be missed.
  2. Offshore:  If you have an offshore team, you know how challenging that can be.  It is really important to write everything out in detail when you communicate offshore so that everyone understands.  It is critical to write detailed test cases is no different.  Without those details, the offshore team will really struggle to understand what needs to be tested.  Getting clarifications on a test case can often take a few days of back and forth and that is extremely time consuming and frustrating.
  3. Automation:  If you are considering automating test cases, it is really important to have all the details documented.  Automation engineers are highly technical but they might not understand all the flows of the application, especially if they have not automated that application before.  Without the details, there is a high possibility that steps will get missed and perhaps that will cause the automation scripts to not be written properly.
  4. Performance:  The performance engineers must also write performance test scripts.  They also are more technical in nature, but they really struggle to get the right amount of information needed.  It really helps the performance test engineers to have document test case steps so that they will be able to create their performance test scripts a lot faster.
  5. Audit:  I have had the experience in testing applications that fall within domains which require regulatory compliance such as telecommunications and insurance.  These domains require internal and external audit teams to review all testing activities.  It is important to have the teams write detailed test cases so that audit will have a solid understanding of what is tested and will minimize the amount of questions that will eventually come back to the testing team.
  6. Development:  I have found that having detailed test cases will help the development team, especially when there are defects, to provide additional guidance and direction.  This helps to accelerate the fix time and thus the ability to retest and close those defects.
  7. Training: I have found that it is extremely helpful to have detailed test cases in order to train new testing resources.  I typically will have the new employees start understanding how things work by executing the functional test cases.  This will help them come up to speed a lot faster than they would be able to otherwise.

As you can see, there is valid justification to write detailed test cases.  I am sure if I spend more time, I will be able to come up with another 7 great reasons.  I hope this information is helpful and will encourage you to write more detailed test cases in the future.