Why I stopped writing formal test plans and what replaced them

For the first 4 years of my QA career I wrote formal test plans for every feature. Last 2 years: I've written zero. Here's what changed my mind. **What test plans were actually for:** - Communicating test scope to stakeholders - Forcing a think-through before testing begins - A paper trail for compliance **What replaced them:** - **A 30-minute session with the developer** before they start coding covers the "what will we test" conversation better than a document nobody reads - **Automated test coverage in the PR** is a more honest signal of what's tested than a plan - **An acceptance criteria checklist in the ticket** (written collaboratively with dev + QA) serves the stakeholder communication purpose in 1/10th the time For compliance-heavy environments (fintech, healthcare), you likely still need the paper trail. But for product teams doing continuous delivery, test plans are often theatre. Change my mind.