Difference between test strategy and test plan

Question

I have read several posts on test plan and test strategy. According to them the main difference between these they tell is that test strategy is static in nature while test plan is dynamic and can change according to course of testing process.

Other than this the contents they show for test strategy and test plan is almost same.

I want to know the real difference between test strategy and test plan documents. Can anybody tell this?

Answer 1

The test strategy describes how - the overall test process, the techniques and practices used, design of test cases, selection of cases for retesting or regression, management and maintenance of the test environment, and the tools to support all of these. In some cases, the test strategy may also describe who - the structure of the test organization, who is responsible for creating or maintaining tests or test environments, and so on.

The test plan identifies what - the features that are being tested, the test cases that are being executed, the risks that have been identified. Often, it also identifies a schedule for testing and may also include specific responsibilities for executing against the test plan.

I don't think that it's necessarily true that a test strategy is static while a test plan is dynamic. A test strategy is probably updated much less frequently than a test plan and likely exists at an organizational or product level. The test plan likely exists at a release or iteration level. You may have multiple test plans for different executions of testing.

Answer 2

As a software testing company, we say that Test Plan is a document that tells us about the Scope of testing, objective, product and method of a software testing task. On the other hand, Test Strategy is the process which defines how the testing process/approach will be for testing the software product.

Answer 3

Simply put,

Test plan explains how to do it Test Strategy explains how best (efficiently) can we do it