Whether it is a multi-million software solution or a simple lifestyle mobile application, quality in software development is non-negotiable. For most startup owners, QA testing is challenging. They need to optimize testing processes with the allocated budget.
QA testing is a vast IT landscape. There are several categories, such as black-box testing, white box testing, system testing, system integration testing, and others.
These QA testing categories are vital to an IT startups’ success. Of course, good quality software leads to satisfied and loyal customers. Thus, a startup business that compromises on quality loses customer loyalty in the long run.
When it comes to testing, many people are keeping a comparison between manual vs automation testing. Some of these testing categories work perfectly with manual testing, while others get desirable results with automation testing.
So, the question lies in what QA testing methodology to use. To answer this question, let’s examine the fundamentals of both manual and automated testing.
What is QA Testing?
In its truest sense, Quality Assurance (QA) and Software Testing are two different entities.
In fact, there are three entities to consider in dealing with software quality:
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Software Testing
Quality Assurance is a subset of Software Test Life Cycle(STLC) and Quality Control is a subset of QA. And, software testing is a subset of QC.
However, as the modern IT landscape is evolving, these entities are often interchangeably used. Lately, IT professionals are combining QA and testing. Thus, QA testing, in this article, refers to software testing.
QA testing is composed of product-oriented activities. It focuses on actual software testing which ensures the identification of bugs, errors, defects in a software product.
QA Testing: Striking the right balance
Startups are facing the dilemma of choosing what type of testing to use. One can choose to deploy manual testing. Others might opt for a sophisticated approach and use automation testing.
As the budget is one of the top considerations in building software, startups must know how to strike the right balance between manual and automated testing.
Manual Testing
Manual testing is done by testers to look for defects in the software. It is done by following a written test plan consisting of sets of various test cases.
Testers act as first users and analyze the behavior of the software product. They should point out discrepancies and inconsistencies from the expected behavior and report the defects to developers.
Then the developers fix these bugs, communicate with testers, and settle the issue. Once done, both parties must resolve the issue, and the developers push the changes to production.
Manual Testing Areas of Application
Here is some example of areas that use manual QA testing:
- Functionalities and Features
- User Interface (UI)
- User Experience (UX)
- Software Behavior
- User Acceptance
Furthermore, manual testing best suits the areas involving functionalities and business usability such as:
- Exploratory Testing
- Usability Testing
- Ad-hoc testing
The good thing about doing manual testing is that developers can replicate and fix bugs as they notice them. Similarly, product managers use it to test small changes with ongoing development.
Thus, manual testing promotes a rapid and cost-effective approach to software testing.
Automation Testing
Automation testing uses frameworks to perform testing. QA testers rely on frameworks such:
- Linear
- Structured
- Data-driven
- Key-driven
- Hybrid or Agile
Additionally, frameworks used in testing are modified depending upon the software requirements. Testers build these frameworks using the rules of automation and integration with the various components inside the application.
Here are some examples of those components:
- Function libraries
- Test data source
- Object details
- Other reusable modules
When using automated QA testing, it is important to choose the right automation testing framework. Failing to do so can hinder the optimization process and its primary goal to deliver high-performance software.
Automation Testing Areas of Application
Here is some example of areas that use automated QA testing:
- Regression Testing
- Load Testing
- System Performance Testing
- Repeated Execution Testing
A startup business owner may choose automated QA testing over manual methods. Thus, here are the key advantages of Automated QA testing:
- Cost efficiency
- Faster turnaround time
- Better accuracy
With these benefits, automated QA testing is mostly preferred with large-scale development.
QA Testing for Modern Software development
Modern software development promotes stiff competition. As a result, rigorous testing is significant using both manual and automated QA testing methods. Let’s examine several criteria and the difference between manual and automated testing.
User Skills
Manual Testing
Manual testers are adept at creating test plans and can mimic the user’s behavior. They can cover all use-case scenarios.
Automated Testing
Automated testers are highly skilled programmers. They can build scripts to build and automate use cases.
User Experience
Manual Testing
Manual testers serve as the first users of the system and ensure a high-end user experience.
Automated Testing
Because frameworks lack human observation and cognitive abilities, automated testing can’t guarantee a desirable user experience.
Cost-Effectiveness
Manual Testing
Manual testing is costly as it needs experts to perform testing.
Automated Testing
Automation testing is cost-effective as testing frameworks are reusable and can work for a long time.
Turnaround time
Manual Testing
Turn-around time is higher.
Automated Testing
Turn-around time is much lower.
Testing at Scale
Manual Testing
Costly and time-consuming for large-scale projects.
Automated Testing
Performs testing efficiently and is ideal for large-scale testing.
Accuracy
Manual Testing
Human error promotes lower accuracy.
Automated Testing
Promotes higher accuracy due to computer-based testing.
QA Testing for Website and Web Apps
Since most startups are into website and web apps development, let’s examine how to test these products. Website testing is not purely browser testing. It involves several processes to find and troubleshoot bugs.
Functionality Testing
Functionality testing checks the functionality of your website or web application.
Usability Testing
Usability testing allows testers or crowd-sourced individuals or groups similar to the target audience to test the website or web app.
Interface Testing
This checks the correct interfacing between application, Web, and database server.
Database Testing
As data is vital in every application, this testing checks data integrity, query execution, test data retrieval, etc.
Compatibility Testing
This testing ensures the compatibility of your application among different devices.
Performance Testing
This testing includes response times, load testing, and stress testing to ensure that your website or web app works under heavy traffic load.
Security Testing
This is important, especially for eCommerce websites and applications. It checks the security features such as credit card handling, customer information, and others.
Crowd Testing
This testing includes a large number of people, whether they fit as your target audience or not. This helps unravel unnoticed defects and future features.
Read this article, to find out more about the details of Web testing.
Choose your QA Testing methods wisely
Selecting the right testing methodology is vital to ensure the overall performance of the software. It could be in functionality, load-bearing, UX, UI, usability, cross-platform acceptance, etc.
Full Scale offers skilled QA testers that can perform both manual and automated testing. They are adept in both manual and automated tools. If you want to pursue automation, our project managers and developers can seamlessly integrate with multiple frameworks.
Automation testing is a new requirement in the modern IT landscape. It keeps on helping startups build new features and market faster while ensuring a bug-free user experience.
Manual testing still retains its dominant place in the software testing industry. It is because manual testing, no matter how outdated it is, the human brain still overpower computers when it comes to decision making.
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