Did you know that US companies collectively sustained a total loss of $2.08 trillion in 2020 because of poor software quality? Despite the fact that software is increasingly absorbing the world, the number of low-quality products is very high. Even minor bugs can lead to various consequences including significant financial losses for the project, reduced customer loyalty, or bankruptcy. Here is why it’s critical to design and implement QA best practices & approaches that include different types of testing, tactics & methodologies. Let’s figure out what techniques could help improve the QA process and enhance the quality of the final product!
#1. Focus on customer expectation
Knowing the problems that clients are eager to solve via testing and the criteria they use to evaluate test success allows QA engineers to tailor the testing process to customer needs. In addition, clarifying requirements allows software engineers to evaluate the resources & time required for testing.
#2. Define project scope & priorities
It’s important to consider different factors based on the scale of the project. As a rule, a large project will include the creation of a test bench, test data, test scripts, and test cases. QA software engineers need to know the target audience as well as receive a functional specification & a list of features with prioritization.
#3. Perform shift-left testing
Run tests throughout the entire SDLC. Testing only at the QA stage is an irrational approach. It is necessary to check each module/function of the software. Plan your testing schedule from the very beginning of development. An early review will help identify errors and fix defects as quickly as possible. This improves the quality of the software and diminishes labor costs at the final stage of quality control, as well as reduces the cost of QA. Shift-left testing also intensifies closer collaboration between the QA team and development team In addition, it instills confidence in the development team that innovations are constantly being introduced into the product.
#4. Split tests into small iterations
If you are testing software throughout its life cycle, keep the tests small to save time and resources. Many tests are larger than we think, so do them in small iterations such as functional testing, non-functional UX testing, UI testing, security testing, etc.
#5. Create tests for maximum coverage
Create all test types to cover the maximum if 100% coverage is not possible. When writing test scripts for the same or unexpected conditions (behavior) of applications within the test, do the maximum coverage. Moreover, during the requirements phase, develop test cases for the analysis and design phases. This way your requirements can be verified.
#6. Implement automated regression testing
Regression testing ensures that new features don’t affect the performance of the existing functionality. Test automation makes regression testing faster and easier, and allows testing across multiple platforms. When performing regression testing don’t forget about test automation reporting. It gives the QA team incredible power to detect & analyze issues as well as facilitates a rapid bug-fixing process.
#7. Use AI/ML-powered tools
QA teams can speed up testing by reducing the time it takes to test AI-rendered features. In addition, with the help of AI, you can improve test coverage and create new tests from scratch. At the same time, ML uses the data to predict potential challenges, allowing testers to proactively address issues and threats. AI and ML help deliver high-quality products faster.
#8. Conduct parallel testing
Parallel testing is vital to accelerate the release cycles and verify the software against numerous combinations of devices, browsers, and operating systems. Zebrunner Selenium Grid is an efficient tool for simultaneous testing. It allows to run 1000 tests just in 15 minutes. Testing on all possible combinations on the client environment & the absence of limit threads result in quick test execution as well as fast bug-fixing.
#9. Manage security & compliance risks
As cyberattacks become more common and companies collect more customer data, security and compliance are more important than ever. The priority should continue to be on secure coding practices, implementing proper cybersecurity testing, and controlling risks early in development. Security-focused testing is vital to both protecting organizations and end users, so QA teams must be aware of and use the latest testing methods and tools to ensure software products are secure.
#10. Test in production
Software testing in a production environment involves running automated tests after an application is deployed. Although many testers resist the practice of QA in production, it is necessary, and such testing is the future. At the end of the development cycle, new features are regularly squeezed into the product, and testing in production ensures that they pass full testing without delaying deployment.
Agile and DevOps have radically changed the development process, including testing. Fully completing the testing before the release, as it was before, is now unrealistic. While traditional tests will still be conducted, automation, AI and ML, production testing, and other modern QA methodologies allow for faster and more efficient quality and performance assurance.
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