Test planning & management

/qa:team-plan

QA capacity & skills plan

Plan QA team capacity and skills — staffing vs backlog, a skills matrix, gaps, key-person risk, and a training/onboarding plan.

USAGE/qa:team-plan [release / quarter]
Test planning & managementCTAL-TM · Test Management (Expert) · CTFL v4.0 (tester independence)Test Manager

What it does

Builds a skills matrix rating each team member (0–3) against config-derived competencies, computes available capacity vs demand in person-days with the arithmetic shown, flags gaps and single-point-of-knowledge risks, and recommends cross-train/hire/external actions plus a training and onboarding plan. It also states the appropriate level of tester independence.

When to use it

For resourcing decisions and team development. Advisory and human-owned — a manager approves staffing/hiring/training.

Prerequisites

qa.config.yml (run /qa:qa-init first) — paths, enabled tooling, risk_areas, team, process. Asks the user for the QA roster (people, FTE, skill ratings) — never invented.

Output

QA resourcing & staffing plan (complements the 29119-3 Test Plan resourcing section; no dedicated 29119-3 document) -> <paths.docs_dir>/TEAM-PLAN-<horizon>.md.

Mechanics

How it works

  1. Config guard; resolve horizon from args or the release cadence window
  2. Ask the user for the QA roster (role, FTE/availability, skill ratings); record only planning-relevant data
  3. Build a skills matrix vs config-derived competencies on a 0–3 scale
  4. Set required levels by risk (≥2 for risk_areas.critical, else ≥1); flag gaps and key-person risks
  5. Compute available capacity vs demand in person-days; classify the balance
  6. Recommend cross-train/hire/external per gap; add training/onboarding plan and independence level

Why it works

The theory behind it

Test-team management (CTAL-TM / Expert). Tester independence (levels of independence) is the Foundation anchor; capacity and skills-matrix techniques are complementary management practice. Output is advisory — staffing decisions require manager approval (Principle 1).

CTAL-TM · Test Management (Expert) · CTFL v4.0 (tester independence)

Example

See it in use

team-plan
> /qa:team-plan "Q3-2026"

✓ Correct when It maps staffing/skills to the upcoming backlog and flags gaps plus a training plan, with capacity arithmetic shown.