When we speak about software quality it is basically defined in simpler words as how much the developed software is closer to its needed functionality and features.
Here are some tips and tricks mentioned which can help in improving the quality of the software product. It is highly useful when there are constraints on time allocated for testing a given software.
Learn to analyze your test results thoroughly
When test case is executed it may have its result – passed or failed. For failed test case it is important to find out the root cause of the failure and troubleshoot it. It will be useful if testers could provide with a solution to the failed test case.
Learn to maximize the test coverage
every time you test any application. It may not be highly possible to cover up all test cases in a given time period but one should try to execute maximum possible and highly occurring test cases.
Probable environment
Test the given application more rigorously under the most probable environment it is supposed to work under.
Raw data
If one has the actual raw data available which is in turn the actual data that goes into the application then for rigorous testing this would be the best option to use frequently to test its quality in processing the actual data.
Test modules
Break the entire testing scenario into smaller test modules with priority to each module.Then one can stress on the most used module for a longer period of time. There always stands out a very high probability to have more bugs coming up in most used module of software.
While writing test cases
write test cases for intended functionality first i.e. for valid conditions according to requirements. Then write test cases for invalid conditions. This will cover expected as well unexpected behavior of application under test.
Think positive
Start testing the application with the intent of finding bugs/errors. Don’t think beforehand that there will not be any bugs in the application. If you test the application with intention of finding bugs you will definitely succeed in finding those hidden bugs as well those which are very subtle.
Requirement analysis and design
Write your test cases in requirement analysis and design phase itself. This way you can ensure all the requirements are testable.
Group your test cases for regression testing
If possible identify and group your test cases for regression testing. This will ensure quick and effective manual regression testing. Its time saving to group and prioritize scenarios and the type of testing to be executed.
Performance testing is the critical part of many applications
Applications requiring critical response time should be thoroughly tested for performance. Performance testing is the critical part of many applications. In manual testing this is mostly ignored by the testers due to the lack of required performance testing large data volume. Find out ways to test your application for performance. If it is not possible to create test data manually then write some basic scripts to create test data for performance test or ask developers to write one for you.
Go beyond requirement testing
Test the application for what it is not supposed to do.This will reflect the capacity of the application reacting to unknown situation or the cases that are not meant for it to handle.
Previous testing cycles
While doing regression testing use the report of previous testing cycles to predict the areas in the application where previously bugs were reported in higher frequency. This will also will give an idea to the tester of the previous weak areas of the application.
Observations
Note down the new terms, concepts you learn while testing. Keep a text file open while testing an application. Note down the testing progress, observations in it. Use these notepad observations while preparing final test release report. This good habit will help you to provide the complete unambiguous test report and release details.
Code changes done
Many times developers make changes in code base of the application under test. This is a required step in the development or testing environment to avoid execution of live transaction processing like in banking projects. Note down all such code changes done for testing purpose and at the time of final release make sure you have removed all these changes from final client side deployment file resources.
Don’t run out of time to do high priority testing tasks
Prioritize your testing work from high to low priority and plan your work accordingly. Analyze all associated risks to prioritize your work.
Quality
The term ‘quality’ for different applications has a different meaning. In case of applications involving scientific calculation, better the functionality the better is its quality. But for a lay person ,better the user interface and easy to work with the application, it has higher quality.
In short it can be stated as ‘Define Quality to Match Needs of your application’
Quality must move beyond the task of just QA professionals to become an integrated part of the entire software development life cycle to reduce rework, improve user satisfaction, and reduce the risk of untested nonfunctional requirements such as security and performance.
References :
www.softwaretestinghelp.com
www.netobjectives.com
www.cio.com