Ilya Dudkin 16/11/2018 #QA #Popular #Tips 8 min read It’s not easy being a QA professional. There are a lot of QA processes and stages that the software must go through prior to release. Also, let’s keep in mind that the job of a QA tester does not end after the product’s release. There will always be bugs, glitches, and flaws that are found in the code even after release and they must test the fixes and updates to make sure that everything works properly. Here are some of the steps of the QA testing process. QA Process in Software Testing Below is the typical QA workflow to make sure everything is running smoothly: Requirements – Prior to beginning the QA process, make sure that you have clear requirements in place. All ideas need to be clearly written down in a format that everybody understands. If you are a participant of the requirement gathering process, consider yourself lucky because you can witness how a project is created from scratch. Test Strategy – The goal here is to find ways to better test the software, but, more importantly, it should make your shareholders and investors feel confident about the product you are about to release. Creating a quality testing strategy is crucial because, once in place, it will be difficult to change. Therefore, be sure to go over the requirements documentation once again and single out the most important aspects of the target software’s environment. The “environment” can be defined as a certain operating system or a mobile device. The goal at this stage is to gather all the necessary devices, platform, and software that the application needs in order to function correctly to make sure that a proper testing strategy can be formed. Test Planning – Now it is time to implement the strategy that you came up with. Remember, the success of the software under test will depend on how well the tests were carried out, so be sure not to leave any stone unturned. In order to make sure that the software will be tested across all platforms, create a matrix of all the environments. If you have all possible variations of platforms that your software will be used in, then your setup is ready to go. Testing – Now when the application build is out, you are ready to go hunting for bugs. This is a very difficult process which prone to error, therefore try to look at the software you are testing with a fresh perspective without browsing through all of the test cases. You will go through test cases later. Follow the software’s navigation path and become as familiar with the software as possible. Now is the time to go through some test cases and match your finding with the ones mentioned in the test case. Be sure to jot down every deviation, even if may seem unimportant. Pre-release – In order to ensure the highest product quality, rigorously test the software for the following parameters: Scalability Performance Functionality Platform compatibility It will be difficult to predict the success of an application since success will depend on many test iterations, but make sure that all features are tested. Make a chart of all test results prior to release, this will give you an idea of how stable the product is prior to launch. In most cases, the QA process and procedures occur during a time crunch and there is usually not a lot of time reserved to provide feedback to other team members from the perspective of the end user, but such feedback is extremely important. 6. Release – The QA team is responsible for the release and it requires a very organized workflow. Therefore, do not start drafting the release document on the day of release, always plan all release activities beforehand. This release documents should include all of your expectation for the software and should include all requirements and their versions. If open defects exist, include them in the document and do not try to the areas that will be impacted the most. Since every product is unique and has its own set of features, other quality assurance strategies will include some extra steps to make sure all of the features are tested. The Job of a Software Tester The job of a QA tester is full of challenges, but it can be fun if you enjoy taking something that appears to be chaotic at first and organizing everything into quality assurance steps. If you are process-oriented, then this job may be a great fit for you because providing custom software development help implies breaking large projects down into phases where each phase has its own unique set of goals. Since every software tester is carrying a large burden of responsibility for the quality of the software, you must be sure to align all processes with best practice procedures. This will pay huge dividends down the road when all the testing has been concluded. Keep in mind that manual testing is very time consuming and will always include an element of the human error. If the budget of your company allows, some tests will be automated to provide a more predictive outcome, save time and run test cases over a significant time period. Having said this, QA testing is an exciting and growing field and taking into account the pace of software releases today, QA testers will be in higher demand in the future.