8 Best Practices For Successful Software Testing

Published on July 5th, 2021 by Rahul Kumar Singh

Software testing is a critical step during the software development process. Quality assurance requires a piece of software to undergo testing before it’s launched to the public for use. Ultimately, testing any software is as important as writing the code for it.

Here are several reasons you need to do software testing:

• To test the security of the software
• To check the quality of your product
• To ensure customer satisfaction
• To improve the development process
• To check new features you’ve added to your product
• To assess the performance of your software
• To look for and eliminate software bugs

Software development experts say that the most common reason for the failure of software startups is the lack of quality assurance during the software development process. You need to be thorough in executing reliable testing methods to ensure that you release a quality product. This article discusses eight practices you need to follow to ensure that your software testing procedure is successful every time:

1. Perform Security Practices

Software testing provides you with the opportunity to perform security checks on your software. You need to determine how secure your application is from hackers and malware. Take note of any security weaknesses you find so you can step up the security measures you’ve implemented. See to it that you conduct several checks until the software is as protected as possible. Think like a hacker in order to spot and address vulnerabilities.

Aside from that, you can check this site and others like it so you can let someone else perform security testing for you and help you improve your software. Using high-end software, such companies can cover several categories of security testing and offer tips on security fixes to your developers. With automated testing, your development team can be directed on how to carry out software security activities in the future.

2. Set A Realistic Time Frame

Before you give your client an estimation of the time you need to run the test cycle and provide results and findings, you should be aware of the extent of the test as well as the features and components to be tested in your software. Sit down with your development team to properly check the application so you can give yourselves enough time for the testing. Failure to do this may force you to hasten the project and possibly miss checking some important aspects of your software if the time frame ends up being inadequate.

3. Factor In The Resources Needed

Sometimes, the process of testing your software can be time-consuming depending on the complexity of the application. Human resource is a major factor in software testing. You should look into the schedules of the key players in the development cycle during the testing period. Consider issues like vacations and extended leaves, which may affect the availability of labor. This will enable you to estimate when you can conduct the test.

Moreover, set aside the funds and procure all the equipment needed for successful testing. There might be fixed resources that may affect the process should they change for one reason or another. If that does happen, the testing process needs to be reevaluated.

4. Brainstorm With Your Team

Gather your team and exchange and share ideas regarding the testing. Look at the expected actual results and test objects. Set a realistic number for the objects and prioritize the most important components. During brainstorming, talk about the possibility of unexpected delays so you can plan for them if they come up.

5. Perform Peer Reviews

This is a step that’s neglected by many developers. Peer review involves bringing in a different team to check your code. Those individuals can help your developers identify bugs they may have been unable to see. Also, you’ll benefit from any new ideas that team provides if those can help you overcome a coding challenge. In a nutshell, peer reviews are a platform for developers to learn from one another.

6. Do Proper Documentation 

Every skilled software tester makes documentation a priority at every stage of development and testing. Documentation ensures that in case a different person or team is involved in the testing of the software at a later time, they can determine the extent of the test done, any challenges encountered in the previous test, and the remaining parts of the software to be tested. Lack of proper documentation can put the testing process at risk since you can lose track of the progress that’s been made.

Therefore, document everything for internal use and external consumption. Ask the coding team to comment on the code properly so that anyone can follow through. They should also prepare guides that’ll be delivered together with the final product to the end user.

7. Encourage Collaboration 

A silo working mentality can negatively affect the outcome of your software testing. The involvement of key players—which are the developers, owners of the software, and testers—ensures that any and all shortcomings are identified and sorted. Let every party clearly understand the functionality, purpose, and target audience of the software.

Once every stakeholder is brought onboard, solving any challenge becomes easy. The owner can identify features that weren’t done according to specifications, so the developers can redesign the code. Also, during the testing cycle, the testers can unearth some surface-level bugs for which the developer writes code once more while the tester comes up with a deeper testing code to ensure that the software is secure. Such a high level of testing may not be achieved unless there’s a seamless collaboration among the parties involved. Otherwise, the product would reach the owner with the weaknesses in it unnoticed.

8. Ask Questions 

To test your software with the target user in mind, you have to ask as many questions as possible. It’s also the nature of testers to ask questions to prove something or figure out how they can do their testing process. Questions allow stakeholders to have comprehensive knowledge of the software, such as the kind of individuals who’ll use it, how it should be used, the problem it solves, the process of carrying out a solution, and the final look and feel of the software.

Wrapping Up 

If you intend to deliver quality software to your client, you can’t ignore the importance of software testing, which is part of software quality assurance. Apart from doing testing as the final step after everything else, you can conduct it during the software development process. You can have every module tested, which might prove to be effective as well. Following the outlined best practices in this article will ensure that your final product is of the highest quality and performs its intended purpose.