QA Library · Free
Software testing since 1994.Written down, so your team starts ahead.
The working documents behind testing programs for medical devices, financial systems, telecom networks, and consumer software: process guides, risk analyses, test plans, bug-report templates, and case studies. Free to read and use.
28
Documents
14
Categories
Live engagements
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01 · 3 documents
Testing Process
The end-to-end sequence we use to run a testing program. Proven at scale, adapted by industry.
PDF2 pages
Four phases, applied in order, every project.
The top-level testing process used on every engagement. Four phases contain twelve sub-processes, each of which is documented in its own checklist in this library.
Read and download →PDF2 pages
Learn the ground before you move it.
The first thing a test leader should do at a new organization is understand the context. These five steps keep you from proposing the wrong solution because you misread the problem.
Read and download →PDF1 pages
Report test results as answers, not data.
Test reports fail when they present numbers nobody asked for. This five-step process starts with the audience, derives the questions, picks the metrics, and tunes the report until it is actually used.
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02 · 2 documents
Test Planning
Master test plans and IEEE 829 derivatives. The document that stops arguments before they start.
PDF2 pages
The test plan structure that actually gets read.
A test plan template that fits a sprint as comfortably as a multi-year program. Each section is there because a specific audience asks about it; each section is short enough to keep the whole plan under 20 pages.
Read and download →PDF2 pages
The one-page test policy the whole org reads.
A sample test policy that fits on one page: mission of testing, risk-based strategy, the four test levels with owners and objectives, the degree-of-formality principle, and the two KPIs every test-owning group is measured on. Adapt the placeholders, keep the structural shape.
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03 · 3 documents
Quality Risk Analysis
FMEA-style risk spreadsheets that drive coverage by what breaks, not by what is easy to test.
PDF2 pages
Prioritize risk before you prioritize tests.
Testing without a prioritized quality risk analysis is testing by politics. This six-step process produces a risk register with explicit stakeholder consensus, the basis for every downstream testing decision.
Read and download →PDF2 pages
The risk taxonomy every FMEA starts from.
The list of quality risk categories our FMEAs, test plans, and risk-based strategies start from. Use it as a completeness check, every category is a question you should have answered for this release, even if the answer is "not applicable."
Read and download →PDF2 pages
A working FMEA for software, not a form.
The Sumatra FMEA is a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis adapted from aerospace and automotive practice for software quality risk. It converts stakeholder judgment into a defensible, numerically prioritized register you can defend to any audience.
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04 · 4 documents
Test Estimation
How to size a test effort honestly when the schedule has already been promised.
PDF2 pages
Estimate testing the way projects actually work.
Test estimates fail either because they skip the work breakdown or because they skip stakeholder buy-in. This process does both, in sequence, so the resulting schedule and budget survive contact with management.
Read and download →PDF3 pages
The test budget structure that survives finance review.
A test budget template that covers the five enterprise categories (staff, travel, tools, test environments, external labs) month by month, pairs with an explicit contingency line, and rolls into a worked ROI model. Adapt the line items, keep the structure.
Read and download →PDF3 pages
The model that says when you will run out of bugs.
A quantitative find / fix estimation model that projects the bug-discovery and bug-closure curves for system test. Inputs: daily find and fix rates, headcount, expected defects. Outputs: cycle-level and day-level cumulative-found / cumulative-fixed curves plus the sizing check ("do we have enough developers to keep up with testing?").
Read and download →PDF3 pages
The economic proof that more testing is not always more value.
A worksheet pairing the classic static cost-of-quality curve (where increasing defect-detection percentage first reduces total cost, then increases it) with a dynamic month-over-month model comparing a low-investment program to a high-investment program. Use the static model to set DDP targets; use the dynamic model to track actuals against plan.
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05 · 1 document
Test Execution
Day-to-day running of the tests, not the theory. The stuff that actually happens on a Tuesday.
06 · 1 document
Bug Reporting
Bug reports developers do not ignore. The IEEE 1044 descendants that close the feedback loop.
07 · 1 document
Test Tracking
Spreadsheets and metrics you can actually maintain. Built from work on shipping teams, not from theory.
08 · 2 documents
Change Management
CCB templates, change request risk analysis, and the paperwork that keeps releases honest.
PDF2 pages
Triage every change. Integrate only the approved ones.
Undisciplined change is the largest single risk to test completion. This process defines the Change Control Board loop (from intake through final approval) so nothing slips into a release untested or unscored.
Read and download →PDF5 pages
A change control board charter that actually governs.
A full Change Control Board charter: scope, change request form fields, the five-level priority scale, nine-role membership, the CCB review cadence, per-role final-approval criteria, and the 2026 discipline of naming the low-risk paths that do not need to touch the CCB.
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09 · 1 document
Test Release
What to check, who signs off, and how you decide the build is out.
10 · 2 documents
Team Building
Hiring, staffing, ramping, and keeping the people who make the testing actually happen.
PDF2 pages
Hire deliberately. Grow people continuously.
The test team is the product. This process structures hiring as a reversible, repeatable loop and pairs it with an always-on skills and career-path program.
Read and download →PDF4 pages
The 137-row skills matrix for managing a test function's capability.
A comprehensive test-team skills assessment matrix covering 137 specific skills across three domains (Testing Skills, Domain Knowledge, Technical Expertise) and four roles (Test Technician, Manual Test Engineer, Automated Test Engineer, Test Manager). Each skill is rated Required / Desirable at 0–3 competency; per-person ratings roll up to team-minimum and team-average views, making capability gaps and redundancy visible for hiring, development, and succession planning.
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11 · 3 documents
Job Descriptions & Resumes
Starting points for hiring QA and automation engineers, based on what we have looked for ourselves.
PDF2 pages
A job description for the test automation engineer you actually need.
A detailed job description for an Automated Test Engineer, structured around the four dimensions that make the role succeed: technical skill, results tracking, team contribution, and career growth.
Read and download →PDF1 pages
A test manager JD that names the real job.
A concise Software Test Manager job description that names the four things the role is actually responsible for: hands-on leadership, credible quality assessment, cross-functional coordination, and staffing.
Read and download →PDF2 pages
Two paired JDs: Test Technician and Test Lead.
Paired job descriptions for Test Technician (entry-level) and Test Lead (experienced). Useful as hiring-panel reference material, as exercise material in interview training, and as a reminder of what ladder progression looks like inside a test team.
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12 · 1 document
Advanced Templates
Working spreadsheets and documents pulled straight from live engagements, scrubbed and shared.
13 · 3 documents
Case Studies
Real programs, anonymized. Info appliances, loan processing, IVR networks, TPI maturity assessments.
PDF6 pages
The master test plan for a first-generation Internet appliance.
Master test plan for a consumer Internet appliance program. Four phases (integration, system, DVT, PVT), nineteen risk categories, and written entry/exit criteria for each transition. The client name is scrubbed ('Some IA Maker') but the methodology is intact.
Read and download →PDF3 pages
How change requests moved through a device-plus-service program.
The Change Control Board (CCB) process used on the Internet appliance program. Defines how change requests are submitted, reviewed, signed, and implemented across Development, Test, Support, Network Ops, Supply Chain, Release, Finance, and Marketing.
Read and download →PDF7 pages
The Release 1.0 system test plan for a call-center loan app.
System test plan for a bank's home equity loan call-center application. Six weekly build cycles, credit-scoring mainframe integration, cloned call-center desktops, and a three-week no-crash exit bar. Client name and individuals scrubbed; the method is intact.
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14 · 1 document
Course Outlines
Training curricula we teach to ISTQB, ASTQB, and agile-tester audiences around the world.