Testing is done in every domain of any product/material/software, etc. Before releasing anything into the market. So, if we talk about software testing, it means testing any software and finding the bugs and problems in its testing before releasing that software into the market. Software Testing is done in the final stage of the software after its development and before releasing it into the market.
As, we all know for a QA specialist or executives testing is time-consuming as well as a little bit expensive, so, to save time and make it easier, today, in this article, we are going to discuss some of the top 10 best practices of software testing in 2024 which helps QA specialist and executives to make their testing more easy and effective.
Top 10 Best Practices for Software Testing [2024]
Let’s read about some of the best practices that developers and testers must keep in mind, before performing software testing on any product.
1. Plan Your Testing
Before, starting the software testing, it is necessary to plan the whole test procedure in a proper way with a clear and concise roadmap with well documented to establish clear communication. The goals and objectives of the plan should be very clear and in a very concise way that how the testing should be followed at every stage.
While Planning the Test procedure of your testing, make sure to follow this 5-letter word SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) for your good testing plan.
2. Testing throughout the Life Cycle
QA is made easier by testing at every stage of the software development life cycle, or SDLC. Some people think that’s the only time to test, but if you do it frequently and early on, you can identify and correct problems as you go. Thus, the burden over QA will also not increase as well on the same time.
3. Grasp Negative Testing
The goal of positive testing is to ensure that the software can function as expected. Although it’s not even possible to create everything for all types of test cases, in every scenario, if we do testing of unexpected or unfavorable cases like for negative test cases, then it will maximize the coverage, take more time, and create a more robust software application/websites which have very few faults and is very much compatible and user-friendly application/websites.
4. Adopt Automated Testing
It is a type of testing script where the developer/tester writes a script on their own and develops an automated flow by using some software or automation tool to automate the flow for testing the software. Automation testing can help make our testing faster, cover more broad areas, and give more accurate and feasible result and quick feedback with proper test reports. It makes it possible to carry out repetitious activities in a very fast manner without a manual tester’s help.
5. Adopt Test-Oriented Development Practices
During the testing stage, this development practice reduces the number of bugs, and problems found because development is done with a testing mindset by the developer itself. Under this testing, there is a one approach that is Pair Programming.
In Pair Programming two people who write computer programs are using one computer together. One person writes instructions for a computer, and another person watches and gives ideas. This helps them learn from each other and produces better instructions because mistakes or problems are found and fixed before or while writing them.
6. Broad Coverage of Different Test Areas
Any software applications, websites or any API has different dimensions. Make sure that the test cases of your testing cover all those different broad areas at the time of testing so, that one should don’t miss any type of errors or bugs in that specific software.
As, a tester one should not only focus on the functionality part of the software while at the same time, one should also need to focus on the frontend, backend, performance, and security issues as well of any software, as these are different types of broad areas for which we have just started some example above.
If a tester can also cover these types of broad areas, then it should be a great success for a tester as well as for the company as it covers all types of test cases. Hence, there will be a very least bugs and problems which are to be raised in future .
7. Testing on Actual (in-real) Devices
To do testing on actual devices is one of the another important aspect as it allows the developers to find the bugs, errors and problems and help them to fix it early and in smooth way before it is going to be released in the market.
To test on even simulators are like testing on a type of demo, which even also not able to do replicate or give the actual real world scenario that our end user will experience. For example, suppose if we have a slow connectivity of internet or device has a very low battery, then, in such cases the simulators are not able to reproduce the actual performance of a device in such scenarios.
8. Independent Test Cases per feature
Writing Independent test cases are somehow important because it makes, test cases reusable and also, make error identification easy. In which, Reusable Test Case describes that a single test case can also be used to test several systems or integrations only, if it is not dependent on any other functionality.
Because, if the test case is independent for single functionality or single feature, In future, for a similar type of functionality or feature, we don’t need to write that test case again for every new system or integration. This results in saving our time as well as the effort.
Though, writing independent test cases for each different feature takes time in starting, but it saves one’s future time and effort as, in future we can use the same test case for different systems or integrations, so, it is helpful in long run.
Hence, it is suggested to create single test case for testing a single functionality .
9. Adopt Regression Testing
Regression Testing is a type of another kind of software testing method and it is done to make sure that if any new changes made to a existing system or software, it should not break any existing functionality or introduce new bugs. This type of testing is usually carried out whenever any kind of system modification is done , which includes the addition of any new feature, the correction of a bug, or the enhancement of performance.
10. Try End User Testing
End User Testing is performed at the final stage of Software development. Getting the customers or end users who are going to use our software after in the market for testing purpose, can help us to find such bugs or errors which may or may not be discovered by a software tester during testing.
In addition, to this, it also provides, some interactive user input to our developers at both the stages during and after production which indicates that their program is production-ready and makes the software more effective and user-friendly.
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Conclusion
As, a big and good organization and to keep a place in the software market at a competitive position, it is important for the organization, to produce a good quality, high-quality product which is user-friendly also. Hence, to improve the quality of software products we as software tester needs to find the bugs, problems, and error in our software before releasing it to the market.
So, these are some of the top 10 best practices for software testing, which helps software testers to test the software in an easy way, fast way and more efficient way which saves their time as well for other testing. Hence, the quality strategy for a software tester covers all these types of aspects such as effective planning, a test-oriented proper approach, etc.
Also, Using these methods, a company/ organization or Any individual can create the best software with high efficiency, accuracy, compatibility and user friendly.
FAQs
Why automation is known to be one of the best practices in software testing?
As, Automation allows one to run repetitive test cases and time-consuming different testing scenarios more effectively and efficiently. It progresses test scope, reduces human mistakes, and allows for fast feedback during the development process.
What is Regression testing and why it is important for software testers?
Regression testing depicts that whenever new changes are done to any software, then, that new changes should not negatively affect the existing functionality of the software, which means it should not change the existing functionality and functions of the software. As, this testing is used to solve some bugs which are reported by users in the old version of the software and to fix these bugs, adding new features without disturbing the actual functionality of the software.
Why test planning is important while doing software testing?
Test planning is the process of defining the scope of testing, the testing objectives, the testing resources, the testing schedule, and the deliverables of the testing activities. It is the process of organizing the testing process and ensuring that all parties involved are in agreement about the testing activities.
