How detailed should my manual test case be?

[Kadir]

I'm testing a business app and my boss insists that my test cases are too detailed and bring no value to the company. For UI and functionality testing I was just testing every text box, menu, etc., and making a proper test case in MTM.

How much detail should I include in test cases? How detailed should they be?

[Nykeriab]

It's hard to suggest something without seeing what you've got and what's being criticized.

Just a tiny idea on how to make your test-cases more general: try to make use of some kind of repositories.
These can be UserRepository (having GoodUser, BadUser; GoodUser.Admin, GoodUser.Customer, etc).
Such strategies are applied in automation testing.

This way, instead of having

1. Enter "Login1" into 'login field';
2. Enter "Password1" into 'password field';
3. Press 'Sign in' button...

You'll simply have

1. Sign in as GoodUser.Customer;

And if you have some other field added to the login process later, you won't bother editing dozens of test-cases.

Good luck!