How do *you* write test cases?

[sebastian_solidwork (Sebastian Stautz)]

I wrote here already something:

Jira Testing tool

Since a while now we use a combination of Confluence (overview, reports, manuals) and plain Jira (per case/topic one issue). Imo this open/passed/failed… ratio isn’t worth a thing. Just create tickets for testing on regular releases. You can do test (case) management with very simple, already existing things. Reports should not be about pure number, but about coverage by topics, risk and relevant details. That is something you have to write, not to count. For new features we use mostly Jira.…

In general I differentiate:

• often repeated tests aka regression tests:
  • Here we have detailed manuals in Confluence and create for execution test tickets in Jira, where we paste a checklist. Basically we teach testers and trust them as they get better to do the right things.
  • I guess this comes most next to what you describe?
• testing new features/tickets, basically discovering the functions for the very first time:
  • This is basically iterative process. I note what I plan to test (based on risks) => I test => I note my findings and, if necessary I discuss them with others => repeat
  • I find typical scripts/manuals here wasteful and limiting. As this is mostly about discovery you can not plan every step details ahead. If you believe and do so, you limit the possibilities of the discovery (of potential problems).

EDIT: So technically I really seldom write “test cases” aka “test manuals”. If I write them I do them not by the industry standard.