Question: for those of you who create Test Plans based on product area rather than per iteration, why? And for those of you who create new, fresh Test Plans based on your release cycle (iteration / sprint, whatever), why? Is choosing one over the other a no-brainer (e.g.an Agile shop should choose new test plans per sprint/iteration?)?
Background: I'm hoping for some guidance on how to organize Test Plans. I'm using Microsoft Test Manager. All I have found is this:
'You might want to create a test plan for each sprint if you are using an agile methodology"
...
Or, you might create a test plan for each specific milestone if you are using another approach.
Also, this source claims that:
...it is better to create test plans based on your testing goals for specific iterations or milestones
It seems so simple...if you're an Agile shop you should create a Test Plan for each sprint (or iteration) like Microsoft suggests...rather than creating a Test Plan for say, each product area or sub category, and then updating those existing test plans every time the code has an update. However..I get mixed guidance elsewhere. For example: "Software Testing with Visual Studio® 2010" suggests per-iteration. Another book, "Software Testing using Visual Studio 2010", shows an example of per-product area.
I'm sort of a Test noob. I am going to try really hard to get this right the first time