To make any software reliable, software testing plays a vital role. It helps to reduce errors and bugs. It is the responsibility of a software tester to point out the errors and bugs in a software and deliver bug free software to the customers.
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Today, we are sharing important tips that help to make software testing more efficient and effective. If you are a tester, you should implement these tips in your day-to-day testing activities to avoid mistakes.
Efficient software testing is a mixture of intelligent use of software techniques and logical thinking. Here are the few tips that help you in achieving that:
1) A practical test plan
The foremost requirement for efficient software testing is the need for a good and practical test plan. The plan should be comprehensive enough to cover all areas of testing a product such as initial planning, risk identification, and more. A plan should be written in a clear and understandable language.
2) Clarity and understanding of the goals
One of the misconceptions in the software industry is that software testing is easy and anyone can perform it. But the truth is that one needs certain skills to be a good tester and have a mindset and enough patience to be a tester. The goals of testing should be clearly understood by the tester.
3) Analyze your results thoroughly
To make software testing efficient, a tester just cannot ignore the test result. The role of tester does not end up with just identification of the test result. He is also expected to provide solutions in addition to logging the bugs.
4) Write test cases
It is a good practice to write test cases to ensure that all the requirements are testable. This will help to cover expected and unexpected behavior of an application during tests.
5) Understanding of the product
When a tester starts testing and even before that, he needs to understand the complete project. It is vital to collect details about the project right from architectural design phase. It is recommended to have testers involved in the project from the software requirements and designing stage.
6) Test optimization
A tester should look at how much a test case adds value to the quality of the software. Test optimization is a good practice.
7) Maintain good relations with developers
Software testers and developers should work together throughout the entire development process for a more efficient testing effort. This approach may consume more testing resources, but the result will be greater testing efficiencies.
8) Make use of good metrics
Choice of right metrics is essential for making right decisions. Testers must be clear about the quality objectives and these should be documented, reviewed and tracked. So, choose metrics which are simple to operate and are effective in presenting a clear pictures. Some of the metrics can be related to size like number of lines of codes, test cases etc. or rework such as number of test cycles to test bug fixes, or it can be resources like hours of work and more.
9) Clear and descriptive bug report
A tester is expected to provide not just bug symptoms but also the effect of the bug along with the possible solutions. If you have any doubts about how to write a bug report, you can check out our post.
10) Create better business requirements
Understanding the requirements of clients helps testers in getting the big picture, and crafting test plans accordingly. These test plans specifically focus on the ability of the project to meet the needs of customers.
11) Take note of new concepts
For efficient software testing, it is essential to keep a track of new concepts learned in each type of testing. This ensures effective and better testing of future projects.
12) Divide functional module into smaller parts
This is a useful tip for testers. Whenever possible, they should make functional modules divided into smaller logical parts and test cases should be written in the single module. This ensures effective software testing.
Over to you
Share your test experience or tips for effective software testing in the comments below. We would love to hear your testing secrets.
