Nowadays, when producing any kind of application, it’s expected that the application be functional and reliable right out of the box. People have very little tolerance for bugs and functionality issues; because usually there’s an alternative on the market they can go to if your app doesn’t work properly. Software testing plays an important role in this regard – it’s a sort of gatekeeper for the quality of a product before it reaches the users. And if you don’t have a reliable software testing plan in place, the chances are that you’re going to release software that people aren’t going to want to use. That’s why it’s crucial to make sure that every release, hotfix and version is tested properly before it even reaches your users.
In this article we’re going to let you in on the top 10 best practices you need to follow when testing applications. This applies whether you’re using unit testing, end to end testing, integration testing or another type of testing. And of course, we’d recommend booking in a free demo of T-Plan using the link above if you’re missing any of these in your testing workflows, because if you are, there are probably elements of your app or game that haven’t been tested properly.
Table of Contents
1. Shift-left testing
Shift-Left Testing is all about starting the testing process as early as possible within the software development lifecycle. Conventionally, testing is perceived as a phase of development which comes along towards the end, just before release. This often results in finding critical defects later than you should, which can be extremely costly and time-consuming to fix. Shift-Left Testing flips this model upside down by introducing testing activities as early as possible, usually during the requirements and design stages.
It’s orders of magnitude (literally less than one-tenth of the cost) to fix issues that are caught early versus fixing issues that are caught after release. Think of this like having an electrical problem when building a new house – it’s much easier and cheaper to do this before the plasterboard goes up and the walls are painted versus having to cut holes in the wall to fix the electrical problem after the fact. Software development works exactly the same way. It cultivates a culture of quality and continuous improvement, thereby aligning all stakeholders with the goal of producing a quality product right from the beginning. Shift-Left Testing makes for quicker release cycles and lowers risks associated with late-stage changes. Shift-left testing is a DevOps principle, but one that can be incorporated into other development practices like Agile too.
2. Automate, automate, automate
Automation is game-changing. Before automation, where human testers had to check everything manually, it was extremely common for errors to be made and bugs to be missed – because humans make mistakes. Computers, when programmed to test something, can test it extremely accurately and repeatedly. Manual testing is also far more time and resource-intensive than automated testing, particularly when it comes to repetitive tests such as regression and performance testing. Automation tools, such as T-Plan, enable your testers to execute large test suites with precision and speed, providing reliable and repeatable results that can be reproduced across various environments.
And again – automating testing is cheaper than having manual testers check for issues. It enables quicker test execution, consistency and reliability across environments. It allows more frequent testing without additional resource overhead. This enables faster release cycles. Automation within the Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment means every code change is tested pretty much immediately, and any issues identified can be solved quickly.
3. Plan your tests clearly and comprehensively
A good test plan forms the backbone of any testing strategy. It is, in fact a detailed, step-by-step road map that describes the scope, objectives, resources, and schedule of testing activities. A comprehensive test plan basically provides clarity on what needs to be tested, the criteria of success and the responsibility of each member of a team in the test process. Defining these elements upfront helps teams align and focus during the test lifecycle. If you don’t have a comprehensive test plan, you are just guessing at what needs to be tested, and you are likely missing important things.
Detailed test plans give clarity and direction, ensuring all aspects of the application are tested properly. They avoid risk because they make sure all the teams know what will be tested and how it should be tested. It reduces ambiguity, enables proper communication with stakeholders and provides a well-structured approach to testing minimising the chances of missing defects. Test plans should, however, be flexible, to take into account things that arise during the development process that may not necessarily have been considered previously. They should never be set in stone, but as mentioned if you don’t have a roadmap for your testing, you are likely wasting time and resulting in an application that hasn’t been tested anywhere near as thoroughly as it should have been.
4. Prioritise testing based on risk
Not every aspect of an application carries the same level of associated risk. Some features are mission-critical, directly influencing user experience and business outcomes, while others are less crucial. Risk-based testing, therefore, focuses on the identification and prioritisation of these critical areas to ensure efficient spending of testing efforts. By assessing the potential impact and likelihood of failure for each component, testers can concentrate on the parts of the application that pose the highest risk to the project.
For example; it’s pointless assigning resource to test your login page when the checkout functionality doesn’t work. Yes, it might be annoying that someone can’t log in, and might sour their experience, but if they can’t checkout, you aren’t going to make any money. Make sure that whatever you are testing, you ensure that the mission-critical aspects (usually those that involve a transaction, or maybe you monetise your app with ads, etc) are tested most thoroughly and that they work. We can deal with small bugs – we can’t deal with a checkout that doesn’t work!
5. Maintain test case traceability
Test case traceability is essential for ensuring that all software requirements are adequately covered by test cases. By establishing traceability of test cases to their original requirements, the team can say with certainty that every feature and functionality has been tested as it was designed. Such linkage will help a tester understand the scope and the coverage of the testing done, hence leaving no point untouched or tested in isolation without regard to the overall system requirements. This ties into verification testing vs validation testing – e.g. did we build the right thing, vs did we build the thing right?
Maintaining test case traceability ensures that the application requirements are aligned with their test outcomes. Alignment avoids missed requirements, hence making sure that the delivered software serves its purpose. Traceability also facilitates impact analysis, allowing teams to assess the effect of changes quickly and adapt test cases as needed.
6. Make use of continuous integration and continuous testing pipelines
Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Testing (CT) are essential practices for maintaining testing quality and speed. CI involves the frequent integration of code changes into a shared repository, allowing teams to detect and address integration issues early. Continuous Testing complements this process by embedding automated tests within the CI pipeline, ensuring that every change to the codebase is validated through rigorous testing before it progresses to production.
Benefits: Integrating testing into the CI/CD pipeline speeds up the feedback loop, ensuring that every code change is validated for quality before moving forward. T-Plans approach in automation of continuous testing accelerates release cycles, reduces the risk of defects in production and maintains consistent software quality.
7. Perform regression testing every time the codebase changes
Regression testing is very important to ensure that recent code modifications have not affected the existing functionalities of the software. In fact, every modification related to the addition of a new feature, enhancement, or bug fix has the potential to introduce new defects or inadvertently affect other parts of the application. To safeguard against this, regression testing involves re-running previously executed test cases to verify that the software continues to perform as expected after each change.
Benefits: Automating regression testing is powerful for teams that need to save time by validating new changes have not introduced new defects, preserving the integrity of the application. It leads to increased confidence in the stability of a software and enables frequent releases safely. Using T-Plan’s automated regression testing in the CI/CD pipeline ensures that each and every change will automatically be vetted to lower the risks associated with changing software.
8. Test for scalability and performance under varying load conditions
Apart from functional correctness, software should also be able to function efficiently under various conditions. In this respect, performance testing is required to ensure that an application can handle anticipated volumes of work without degradation of speed or responsiveness. It involves evaluating the software’s behaviour under normal and peak-level conditions, including its handling of an increasing number of users, transactions or data. For example, while your app might work well in the middle of August, does it still work well on the 23rd December, on your last day to order for Christmas delivery? Scalability testing extends this by assessing the software’s capacity to scale up or down gracefully as demand changes. The last thing you want is the app failing because it can’t handle the number of users at a time where you’d be taking 60% of your yearly turnover. This also applies geographically – for example, how do you know whether a user in South Africa on a 3G connection experiences the same as someone in Brazil on full-fibre broadband? If you aren’t testing for this, you should be.
Ensuring performance and scalability helps maintain a seamless user experience even when a user base is growing. While recognising ahead of time, development teams have time to take proactive measures to ensure system performance, reduce the risk of system outages and ensure that the application would scale to meet the demands of the users, enhancing overall user satisfaction.
9. User-centric testing is key
User-centric testing places the end-user experience at the forefront of the testing process. It’s not enough for software to simply meet technical requirements; it must also align with user expectations and provide an intuitive, seamless experience. This practice involves simulating real-world user interactions (sometimes called synthetic testing) to evaluate the software’s usability, functionality and overall performance from the user’s perspective. By testing how the application behaves in scenarios that mirror actual use cases, testers can uncover usability issues that might not be apparent through traditional functional testing.
By incorporating user-centric testing, teams can identify usability issues that may not be apparent through functional testing alone. This approach helps ensure the software provides a seamless and intuitive user experience, crucial for user satisfaction and overall adoption. Finding and fixing usability issues early on improves overall software and market success.
10. Review and refactor test cases on a regular basis
Test cases are the foundation of effective software testing, but they certainly are not static. Because software is continually in a state of change, with new features, changes in functionality and bug fixes being introduced constantly, test cases have to change to remain relevant and efficient. Regular review and refactoring of test cases ensure that they remain aligned with the current state of the application. This includes evaluating existing test cases for accuracy, redundancy and coverage, then updating or removing those that no longer add value.
Keeping only relevant test cases in a test suite is highly necessary to keep testing efficient and manageable; execution time will be reduced; maintenance overhead will be lower and it ensures that test cases provide reliable insights into software quality. Regularly updated test cases help maintain a high standard of testing throughout the application’s lifecycle. Don’t test for things that are redundant, just because they might have been relevant a few versions ago.
Final thoughts – making sure your software is of a consistent quality, every time
Implementing these 10 best practises for software testing will allow all contributors of the development lifecycle to move forward with a mindset of quality. Be it early adoption of Shift-Left Testing or frequent review and refactoring of test cases, each of these practices contributes toward building robust, reliable, and user-centric software. Applying priority to risk, leveraging automation, maintaining traceability and focusing attention on performance are all factors that will enable teams to speed up processes, reduce costs, and shorten delivery times.
Quality software is delivered when there is a well-thought-out testing strategy that will balance technical excellence with user expectation. Poor quality software is delivered when little thought is given to testing and there is no strategic plan. Through consistent following of good practices, we can identify defects earlier, reducing risks of severe issues in production and ultimately meaning that we deliver software that meets the expectations of users. Tools like T-Plan lie at the heart of this journey with incredibly powerful automation and management capabilities that enable teams to implement these best practices effectively. In doing so, they pave the way for higher-quality software releases that meet business objectives and satisfy end-users.
Ready to elevate your software testing strategy? Discover how T-Plan’s automation tools can help implement these best practises seamlessly. Get started with T-Plan today!
