uat-plan

Overview

Based on Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn - where each use case's main success scenario plus extensions directly become test scenarios. Also draws on Mastering the Requirements Process by Robertson & Robertson where Fit Criteria are the testable conditions for acceptance, and Requirements Engineering by Hull, Jackson, and Dick for the V-Model that maps business requirements directly to acceptance tests. The key insight: UAT scenarios should not be invented by testers. They should be derived directly from use cases (Cockburn), fit criteria (Robertson), and business requirements (Hull's V-Model). If you wrote good requirements, the UAT plan writes itself.

Workflow

Step 1: Define the UAT scope and approach

PROJECT: [name]
RELEASE: [version or phase being tested]
UAT OBJECTIVE: [what business validation is needed before go-live]
TESTERS: [who will perform UAT - business users, not QA team]
ENVIRONMENT: [UAT environment details - must mirror production]
TIMELINE: [start date, end date, buffer for defect resolution]