Testing & quality assurance

Reusable, project-agnostic blueprint for testing — the discipline of verifying that software behaves correctly, meets requirements, and is fit for purpose. Grounded in the ISTQB body of knowledge, adapted for teams…

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Testing answers "is the software correct, reliable, and fit for purpose?" — a question that spans SDLC verification (phases D–E), PDLC validation (P5 outcome measurement), and continuous delivery pipelines.

Document Purpose
Testing approaches (blueprint) ISTQB-aligned vocabulary (test levels, test types, test design techniques); modern test pyramid; strategies (shift-left, TDD, BDD, contract testing, visual testing, AI-augmented testing); SDLC phase mapping; ISTQB certification landscape
Test automation frameworks — making sense of the landscape Test automation framework taxonomy (web/E2E, mobile, API/contract, BDD runners, AI-augmented); per-framework profiles; selection decision matrix; cloud infrastructure and device farms
Playwright — blueprint infrastructure Playwright templates, bootstrap scripts, workspace runner, and optional agents recipe — submodule path blueprints/sdlc/templates/playwright/
Testing ↔ SDLC ↔ PDLC bridge How testing maps across SDLC phases A–F and PDLC phases P1–P6 — role mapping, artifact flow, calibration, anti-patterns

Forge defect workflow (markdown repos): Defect triage, RCA, and ISTQB-oriented test impact — prompt — triage, RCA, ISTQB-oriented confirmation/regression design, docs/defects/**, TRACEABILITY; pair with versona-testing.

Relationship to other packages

Package How Testing relates
Software delivery Testing activities map to SDLC phases D–E (Build, Verify). The SDLC quality-gate spine (Software development lifecycle §7) defines that testing is required; this package defines what kinds of testing exist and which tools are available. Methodology packages keep their testing aspects (V-Model verification pairing, DevOps test pyramid, XP TDD, BDD behavioral contracts).
Product development lifecycle (PDLC) PDLC P5 (Grow) uses testing outcomes as inputs to solution evaluation — did the delivered software meet the validated needs? Acceptance testing validates against outcome criteria from P3.
Business analysis (BA) BA acceptance criteria define what to test. Requirements traceability links requirements to test cases.
DevOps DevOps CI/CD pipelines automate test execution. The test pyramid informs pipeline stage design.

Scope

This package covers testing as a discipline — not just unit testing or CI configuration. It includes:

  • Test levels — unit, integration, system, acceptance
  • Test types — functional, non-functional (performance, security, usability), regression, smoke
  • Test design techniques — equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, decision tables, state transition, exploratory
  • Test strategies — shift-left, TDD, BDD, contract testing, visual testing, AI-augmented
  • Test automation — framework taxonomy, selection guidance, cloud infrastructure
  • ISTQB alignment — standard vocabulary and certification landscape

The package is descriptive, not prescriptive: use the test levels, types, and strategies that fit your project's risk profile and team context.

Related SDLC content

Testing aspects are also threaded through SDLC methodology packages:

SDLC doc Testing aspect
Software development lifecycle §7 CI/CD, quality gates, test plans — the lifecycle spine
Test plan — [scope] Copy-paste template for scope-level test plans
V-Model — deep-dive package (blueprint) Verification-and-validation pairing; RTM; test-level gates
DevOps — deep-dive package (blueprint) CI/CD pipeline; automated test pyramid in Verify phase
Extreme Programming (XP) TDD, continuous integration, pair programming
BDD (Behavior-Driven Development) Behavior-driven development; Given-When-Then; living specs
Agentic SDLC (cross-cutting) AI agent roles in testing (generation, self-healing, drift)

Keep project-specific test plans in docs/testing/, not in this file.