Phase Activity Deliverables Necessity

You review the software

Requirements/Desi requirements/design (Well, if Review Defect
gn Review they exist.) Reports Curiosity

Once you have gathered a Test Plan

general idea of what needs to be Test Estimation Farsightedn
Test Planning tested, you plan for the tests. Test Schedule ess

You design/detail your tests on Test Cases/ Test

the basis of detailed Scripts/Test Data
requirements/design of the Requirements
software (sometimes, on the Traceability
Test Designing basis of your imagination). Matrix Creativity

You setup the test environment

(server/client/network, etc) with
Test Environment the goal of replicating the end- Test Rich
Setup users environment. Environment company

You execute your Test

Cases/Scripts in the Test Test Results
Environment to see whether they (Incremental)
Test Execution pass. Defect Reports Patience

Test Results
(Final)
Test/Defect
Metrics
Test Closure
Report
Who Worked
Till Late & on
You prepare various reports for Weekends
Test Reporting various stakeholders. Report Diplomacy

Interestingly, no matter how well-defined a Software Testing Life Cycle you have in your
project or organization, there are chances that you will invariably witness the following
widely-popular cycle:

Testing
Cursing
In this type of STLC, you skip phases like requirement/design review, test planning, and
test designing in the high hope that the skipping will save you some time and/or cost.

Also, note that the Software Testing Life Cycle phases mentioned above do not
necessarily have to be in the order listed; some phases can sometimes run in parallel
(For instance, Test Designing and Test Execution). And, in extreme cases, the phases
might also be reversed (For instance, when there is Cursing prior to Testing).