Testing too much for Interaction and not BusinessTests that focus only on or primarily on interaction end up ignoring business level issues. These issues include business goals, processes and rules.
Mixing Business and Interaction TestsWhile running both tests is critical, it is important to run them separately even when the tests are run for the purpose of testing business functionalities. It is important to put in place a robust and modular test design that would ensure maintainability and be easily managed. A proper test design would also ensure that there is a clear scope, and also would obliterate the detailed steps if they are unnecessary for the understanding of the test with respect to its purpose.
Neglecting Business Objects Life Cycle StepsApplications contain data on ‘business objects’ such as customers, products, invoices, orders, and others. These elements have life cycles within the application – collectively known as CRUD (create, retrieve, update, and delete). Since tests for CRUD are usually incomplete and scattered, this paucity of testing causes gaps in the overall scope of the tests. It is important for test designers to fashion life cycle tests as business tests, since this should be their primary purpose.
Poorly designed and one dimensional testsPaucity of time, lack of experience, and other factors lead to poorly designed and shallow tests. This in turn leads to quality issues such as unresponsive applications, less than optimal working functionalities, and poor user experience. Over time, this makes test maintenance harder, which results in unnecessary costs, which could have been avoided if time and effort are expended at the start.
Deficiency in Defining ScopeWithout properly defining the scope of tests, they would be hard to retrieve and update later in the event of changes to the application. This could result in work duplication, wasting valuable time and other resources.
In Conclusion
Anti-patterns are actually warning signs and not rules for automated testing. In order to simplify automated testing, testers must look at these warning signs and spend time strategizing to create effective test designs from a business perspective. There could still be issues, but when anti-patterns and simplification are in focus, automation testing would become a lot more effortless and have better chances at being successful. Work with a top class automation testing company as a partner – experienced in simplifying this type of testing and a larger gamut of testing – connect with us.
by admin | Oct 1, 2019 | Software Testing, Fixed, Blog |
While software testing is extremely critical to ensure a top quality product, there are certain activities required before undertaking testing. Some of these steps are boring and challenging, but as a leading software testing company, we endorse the conducting of these activities. For a software product to meet and exceed business and technical requirements, pre-testing and testing activities are essential. Testing software is not only about finding and fixing bugs – it is a whole gamut of activities, and hence requires intense and meticulous planning. There are certain activities recommended as part of this planning, which would help any tester to conduct in-depth and focused software testing.
Remember there is always documentation from earlier testingDocumentation is an essential portion of testing and every experienced tester would prepare a set of documents capturing the series of events in a testing exercise. To become an expert tester, it is imperative to first read the set of documents to better grasp the system being tested. Codoid as an expert QA company prepares detailed documentation, and also recommends that every newbie tester goes through the documentation at their disposal before embarking on the testing journey. Reading the documents helps to ask the right questions and prepare a case for the team lead enlisting their understanding of the requirements from the testing exercise. Yes, we agree this task is possibly one of the most mundane and onerous ones, but is indispensable to the success of testing regimes. The truth is the greater the understanding of the system being tested, the easier it would be to test and find and fix bugs.
Time to Script your Test
Equipped with the knowledge got from the test documentation, testers are better equipped to write a detailed test case. The good part of being ‘fresh on the testing scene’ is that there would be an experienced tester/reviewer taking a good look at the test case created. The reviewer would be able to point out the great and not so good parts of the test, which would help to rewrite the portions that need tweaking. This too is a great learning opportunity however cumbersome and challenging it may appear at first.
Dive into Regression Testing ActivitiesPost creating a test, it is imperative to re-run previously written test cases – we are certain to conduct these regression testing activities, even as software testing experts. The reason this activity is so important is that it helps tests understand that certain functions may be altered, and hence the tests scripted by them would not be accurate. It would be necessary to go back ‘to the drawing board’ and script fresh tests to match the current functionalities within the system. We as a top software testing company reiterate that this activity is not fun, but is definitely not one that can be ignored.
Next is Exploratory TestingAs experienced software testers, we can safely say that this is one of the more interesting testing activities! This form of pre-testing activity allows you to use your enthusiasm and skills to assess and imagine the various scenarios of use by customers and the possible things that could go awry. It is vital to allocate sufficient time for this activity – fun and necessary.
Caught the Bug With all the efforts expended by testers, bug will soon come to the fore and be uncovered. This is a really fun activity, since here is when fixing them puts all the skills of a tester into practice. However, while this may be an interesting activity, it is no mean task and must be handled with dexterity since it is critical to success.
In Conclusion:
Post all the activities mentioned, lastly it would be necessary for all those involved to meet and discuss the findings, solutions, the testing strategy, and reporting of the details in a meticulously drafted document. As a new tester these tips will help to gain better control of the actual testing of a system. We at Codoid are highly experienced in all realms of software testing – pre, during, and post, and this is a way of sharing our expertise with fresh testers. For businesses, connect with us to leverage our skills in a wide range of activities and testing requirements.
by admin | Sep 20, 2019 | Software Testing, Fixed, Blog |
It is important to recognize that software quality improvement, like software development, is an iterative process. There is no need to accomplish everything within a single step; improvement can be accomplished in incremental steps. Even small changes can make a tangible difference, including adjusting the organizational attitude towards quality. Software quality improvement requires a commitment from business leadership and a mindset change that begins at the top. The business benefits of good software quality are both broad and deep.
Not only does quality facilitate innovation by increasing predictability, lowering risk, and reducing rework; but it also serves as a differentiator, since it enables a business to set itself apart from its competitors. Most importantly, continuously ensuring quality will always cost less than ignoring quality. Quality is more than free when it is done right. The key strategy for reducing the cost of poor software quality is to find and fix problems and deficiencies as close to the source as possible, or better yet, prevent them from happening in the first place.
This strategy implies that wise investments in software engineering discipline and the cost of good software quality will dramatically reduce the cost of poor-quality. The concept of Continuous Testing is gaining traction and is entering the mainstream for exactly this reason. Continuous Testing is generally defined as making testing an ongoing, automated and constant part of the software development life cycle—so that defects can be found and corrected as soon as they are introduced. Measuring the cost of software quality in your organization is a recommended first step.
Quality is a different concept when focusing on a tangible software product versus the perception of a quality service enabled by software. The meaning of quality is time based or situational. Consumers now view quality as a fundamental measure of their total perception/ experience with a product or service, as well as of the company, delivery and maintenance network that provides and supports it—a kind of unified “quality-value” metric.
Poor-quality software
Poor-quality is not an inevitable attribute of software. It results from known causes. It can be predicted and controlled, but only if its causes are understood and addressed. The primary causes of poor software quality are:
- Lack of domain knowledge (resulting in poor requirements)
- Lack of technology knowledge (resulting in uncertainty about goodness of components)
- Unrealistic schedules (from poor estimation practices)
- Badly engineered software (resulting from immature, undisciplined practices; and using less qualified software engineers)
- Poor acquisition practices
- Communication and coordination breakdowns among teams
- Lack of useful data about the state of software quality
By understanding and addressing these top causes, quality can be designed in from the start, substantially reducing both the 40% of project effort typically spent on rework and the risks to which software exposes the organization, such risks are lost goodwill, and expenses incurred in recalls, refund, replacement, rework, waste, fixing deficiencies, cancelled projects, etc.
Factors about the cost of poor quality
We have broken down the cost of poor software quality into the following four main buckets:
- External deficiencies and failures The largest chunks of which are: finding and fixing operational deficiencies, and massive failure consequences
- Internal deficiencies and failures The largest chunks of which are: finding and fixing unreleased deficiencies, rework, cancelled projects, and troubled projects.
- Technical debt The largest chunks of which are the violations of good practices, and fixing problems that may cause future disruptions
- Management failures The largest chunks of which are unanticipated costs, customer damages, and reactive crisis-mode management behaviors.
And it costs heavily!
In the area of internal deficiencies and failures, we found that:
- From the perspective of the total portfolio of current IT projects, we know that about 1/3 of them will be cancelled or will fail in a significant way. That places about $300 billion of the total US IT labor base at risk. Cancelled projects due to schedule slippage or cost overruns are most frequently caused by poor software quality. We estimate that $130 billion is lost in troubled projects, and $47.5 billion is lost in cancelled projects.
- Finding and fixing internal problems and deficiencies—assuming that about 50% of the US IT development effort is spent in this area, the cost would be about $500 billion.
- The largest chunks are the violations of good practices, and fixing known, postponed problems that may cause significant disruptions. We estimate that the CPSQ in this area is $.54 trillion in technical debt in 2018; a huge number. This represents a potential future cost, and there may be many situations in which this debt is not paid or is forgiven.
Poor-quality is opportunity lost. Understanding where and why these opportunities exist is a chance to improve the bottom line. Although there’s good value to be gained by reducing waste, rework, and warranty costs, there’s an even greater value in looking for the root causes of these problems, because the return is normally much greater. The poor-quality software costs more to build and to maintain than good quality software, and it can degrade operational performance, increase users error rates, and reduce revenues by decreasing the ability of employees to handle customer transactions or attract addition clients. For the software industry, not only is quality free, but it benefits the entire economic situations of both developers and clients. The details of exactly how much can be saved through a focus on good quality is seen in the results of industry-wide improvement programs for software.
by admin | Sep 21, 2019 | Software Testing, Fixed, Blog |
Organizations continue to struggle to mesh app quality with agile using automation and other best practices. Many teams are struggling to increase the QA team’s effectiveness without proper understanding about the QA process.
Quality assurance (QA) is any systematic process of determining whether a product or service meets specified requirements. QA establishes and maintains set requirements for developing or manufacturing reliable products. A quality assurance system is meant to increase customer confidence and a company’s credibility, while also improving work processes and efficiency, and it enables a company to better compete with others.
The below is the Quality Assurance Checklist that everyone should follow:
- Establish QA facilitation
- Implement a Quality Management Process
- Conduct process review
- Create a report on the project status
- Perform process compliance review
- Identify process improvement areas
- Create process trainings
Software Quality AssuranceSoftware quality assurance (SQA) systematically finds patterns and actions needed to improve development cycles. SQA has become important for developers as a means of avoiding errors before they occur, saving development time and expenses. Even with SQA processes in place, an update to software can break other features and cause defects — commonly known as bugs. There have been numerous SQA strategies. For example, Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a performance improvement-focused SQA model. CMMI works by ranking maturity levels of areas within an organization, and it identifies optimizations that can be used for improvement. Rank levels range from being disorganized to being fully optimal. Software development methodologies have developed over time that rely on SQA, such as Waterfall, Agile and Scrum. Each development process seeks to optimize work efficiency.
Waterfall is the traditional linear approach to software development. It’s a step-by-step process that typically involves gathering requirements, formalizing a design, implementing code, code testing and remediation and release. It is often seen as too slow, which is why alternative development methods were constructed.
Agile is a team-oriented software development methodology where each step in the work process is approached as a sprint. Agile software development is highly adaptive, but it is less predictive because the scope of the project can easily change.
Scrum is a combination of both processes where developers are split into teams to handle specific tasks, and each task is separated into multiple sprints.
To implement a QA system, first set goals for the standard. Consider the advantages and tradeoffs of each approach, such as maximizing efficacy, reducing cost or minimizing errors. Management must be willing to implement process changes and to work together to support the QA system and establish standards for quality. From the above said models, most of the companies adopted Agile and it gains more popularity now a days. Testing in an agile environment is different than the traditional methodologies such as waterfall. Agile is an iterative model of delivery which requires continuous collaboration between the team members, providing quick feedback and be able to self-manage. Agile testers know that they are part of the delivery team and that there is no separation of testing phase and development phase, but rather testing is a continuous activity which happens as part of the development.
Test AutomationTest Automation is vital to the success of an agile project because automated tests can provide fast and reliable feedback to the development team. Tests can be automated at different levels with different purposes. A good agile tester with sound technical knowledge is able to:
- Determine and advise which tests should be automated at which layer.
- Choose the right set of tools to help the testing
- Help developers in writing automated tests and analyze the results of the automated tests.
- Create different automation suites, such as smoke pack, full regression pack, end-to-end regression pack, etc.
- Minimize the execution time for the automated tests in order to obtain quick feedback
- Execute tests on a continuous basis
- Provide valuable metrics to the business
- Utilize the facilities of different testing tools to help with manual testing
Provide Continuous FeedbackOne of the key benefits of agile development is being able to deliver a working solution quickly. In order to move fast, we need to get quick feedback on each versions of the code.
We should be able to know, within a short period of time, whether new or updated code has caused any regression bugs. Hence, one of the objectives of testing in agile is to provide relevant information about the health of the application quickly. When issues are reported early, we can fix them straight away and move on. If the feedback loop is delayed, the team has moved on and it becomes more difficult and time-consuming to identify the root cause of the issue.
Feedback can be provided in many forms such as:
- Pair Programming
- Code Reviews
- Unit Tests
- Automated Integration Tests
- Automated Acceptance Tests
- Automated Regression Tests
- Exploratory Testing
The agile tester should ensure that proper and effective tests are written and executed at each level and should know that testing is a continuous activity that happens as part of the development. Thus a proper knowledge in latest tools and techniques and continuous feedback on product/ project will help the team to increase the team effectiveness.
by admin | Sep 22, 2019 | Mobile App Testing, Fixed, Blog |
The mobile technology has been growing by leaps and bounds. The hardware configurations too have improved phenomenally over the last decade or so, In fact it’s the software that actually unleashes the real attribute of these devices. As a matter of fact what really drives the incredible success of smartphones and tablets is the application market which is projected to grow further in the years to come.
A giant leap of this sort invariably poses loads of challenges to developers, as they always have a sense of urgency to produce mobile apps quickly and efficiently for the diverse market segment. Mobile testing teams are always on the toes as they venture to test mobile apps properly before they are out in the market. Mobile market testing has always been a challenge.
The four key challenges of mobile testing are listed below for your reference. These are the major roadblocks that one needs to overcome if you wish your testing plan to succeed.
Fragmentation – Mobile apps are meant to be able to run on a wider variety of different device combinations and subsequently on different OS versions. The number of possible permutations and combinations is daunting.
Usability challenges – The way we interact and use touchscreens is still evolving and a smart user interface design is crucial if you intent to create an app that users can pick up and use intuitively. The solution for the same lies in looking beyond the functional aspects of the application and consider usability.
Network challenges – The performance of the service provider or carrier network will have a tremendous impact on the user’s experience with a mobile app. This is another challenge beyond the hardware and software that, notwithstanding, must be taken into consideration for testing scenarios. What is the impact of low signal strength, 3G or 4G networks, and different Wi-Fi speeds? What are the consequences when the network drops and you switch to Wi-Fi or vice versa? How does the app operate offline? Are there constraints with particular chipsets, or is memory being impacted in unexpected ways?
Tools – As mobile testing is still in its nascent stages the tools at your disposal are very limited when compared to traditional software testing which has hundreds of thousands of tools available in the market.
The four key challenges of mobile testing are listed below for your reference. These are the major roadblocks that one needs to overcome if you wish your testing plan to succeed.
Fragmentation – Mobile apps are meant to be able to run on a wider variety of different device combinations and subsequently on different OS versions. The number of possible permutations and combinations is daunting.
Usability challenges – The way we interact and use touchscreens is still evolving and a smart user interface design is crucial if you intent to create an app that users can pick up and use intuitively. The solution for the same lies in looking beyond the functional aspects of the application and consider usability.
Network challenges – The performance of the service provider or carrier network will have a tremendous impact on the user’s experience with a mobile app. This is another challenge beyond the hardware and software that, notwithstanding, must be taken into consideration for testing scenarios. What is the impact of low signal strength, 3G or 4G networks, and different Wi-Fi speeds? What are the consequences when the network drops and you switch to Wi-Fi or vice versa? How does the app operate offline? Are there constraints with particular chipsets, or is memory being impacted in unexpected ways?
Tools – As mobile testing is still in its nascent stages the tools at your disposal are very limited when compared to traditional software testing which has hundreds of thousands of tools available in the market.
There’s a lot to ponder over in the planning stage. A successful mobile app testing strategy will include a right blend of varied range of devices for obtaining maximum coverage. It will also include some real devices, emulators, and perhaps few remote access devices delivered through cloud service. Above all consideration of real world conditions should not be overlooked. How different locations and fluctuations in connectivity will impact the app? How the app handles hiatus such as incoming calls, text messages, social media notifications. performance, security and usability. The level of automation which can be achieved acts as a deciding factor in making the project more manageable.
Adopt a solid mobile testing plan
You won’t be creating a holistic mobile testing plan and then just repeat it until the app ships. Business requirements will change during the course of your project and you need to plan it stage by stage. Use emulators to identify bugs and functionality issues. You can subsequently move to real devices, and perhaps remotely accessed devices, later when you begin testing in real-world conditions and considering security and network impact.
However you can validate the quality of the product primarily through functional and usability testing, but be aware of the fact that all new features may be thrown into the mix during development. Everything must be validated before it is released into the live environment. Do not forget to take in to account the compatibility and impact of all the essential upgrades.
Testing in the real-world
It is imperative to emulate the end-users as much as humanly possible which means going way beyond optimal conditions.
You need to think about low-level resource usage and watch out for buffering problems or garbage data generation. Security considerations include data encryption and multi-user support handling. What you have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg for effective mobile testing. It is humanly not possible to cover all scenarios here, but this will throw some light on what are the vital aspects to be considered, and help you to create a holistic mobile testing plan.
Conclusion:
As a leading Mobile app testing Services Company, we completely understand that there will be challenges aplenty while testing a mobile app, however, success lies in the adoption of right mobile app testing strategy combined with deliverables from a team of passionate testers. We excel at every gamut of mobile app testing and would love to help your business succeed – connect with us today to work with the best Mobile App testing professionals in this arena.
by admin | Sep 30, 2019 | Mobile App Testing, Fixed, Blog |
Software testing is an interesting realm, albeit challenging and tough to grasp without taking the time to learn it well. As leaders of the software testing ‘ring’, we are highlighting some of the common errors that newbie testers often make, which can be detrimental to their role and the overall quality of the projects they may undertake. Newbie testers often underestimate the importance of their role, which in turn leads to a nonchalant attitude, poor quality work, and loads of rework.
Newbie Common Errors
1. New testers often fail to understand the whole gamut of testing and the role it plays in the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). They sometimes display a gross underestimation of the skills and complexity required to undertake software testing tasks – which in effect is a clear undermining of their own place in the entire gamut
2. Their seems to be a distinct disregard for the analytical approach, while approaching problems with a switch mechanism – leading to less than adequate results.
3. New testers seem to forget that they need to take market expectations of a product, and hence fail to carefully assess the ability of the system against those expectations. Given the inexperience, they fail to understand the major repercussions on the success of the product in the market.
4. The ability of experienced testers to predict and match the behavior of end-users provides much-needed feedback for development, as also any possible red flags. However, newbie testers often fail to undertake this crucial step leading to susceptibility and intensified risk for the new product.
5. Newbie testers, if not guided, fail to develop the awareness of the fact that their role has the ability to significantly and positively contribute to making a product successful
6. Another common yet significant blunder that new testers make is forgetting to or not having the ability to transform their learning and answers into action. While asking questions is extremely important, newbies get stuck into the whirlpool of overanalysis and thinking resulting in being apprehensive about making the wrong choice. This apprehension sets them back and keeps them from taking any kind of action. The good news is that there is enough information and experts in the realm of QA services who can help you make the right decisions, including those related to career paths. Taking action is a sure (even if small) step to progressing towards success.
7. Not staying focused is another common error trap that new testers fall into. Completely opposed to the error of not taking action, some testers are over-enthused which leads them to take too many actions at a time. The job of a software tester is not to multi-task – it leads to poor execution and several minute errors slip through unnoticed, which can create major problems during the course of a project.
8. Newbie testers are unable to prioritize – experienced testers on the other hand would create a methodical list with the most urgent problems to be sorted out first, and thereby are able to keep up with the most stringent deadlines. This is an art and a science both of which new testers must learn and grasp at the beginning of their career and must learn from the masters of software testing services. It is important to stay patient, resilient, and exercise patience to master the craft of software testing.
In Conclusion
Another important aspect that newbie testers must remember is the matter of security. Today data breaches and cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly common and potent. New testers must understand the criticality of protecting private data and therefore speedily learn the intricacies of thoroughly testing apps and web platforms to ensure top-notch lines of defense.
Having said all of the above, we at Codoid excel at teaching since we understand that mistakes happen, but it is important to learn from them and not repeat the same mistakes. It is good to make ‘new mistakes’ since that means moving down new roads, acquiring new skills, and learning new techniques – all of which make better testers. It takes time and effort but we endorse all the sweat and pain because of the immense satisfaction gained from being indispensable to top-quality software and apps. Connect with us to know more and learn from the best.
