Software Testing Guidelines to Consider During Project Deadlines

During software or application development, usually SDLC and STLC processes are followed. Sometimes project deadlines are short and development team works under pressure. In this scenario, testing is also done under severe pressure. Being a tester you have to identify the bugs in that software or application and make sure that it gets bug free before release. Following the step by step process may not help you in meeting your deadlines. Here are some of the guidelines which will help you in meeting your project deadlines & will result in better QA:

Be ready with your documentation:

You should always prepare testing documentation in advance before release comes. Testing documentation should include:

• Test plan
• Test cases for long term projects
• Checklist for short term projects

Identify risky areas of the application:

At the time of deadline pressure, some mistakes made by developers can create risk in software or application. You should identify the risky areas and prioritize testing accordingly. Risky areas can be:

• Functionality that is simultaneously developed by many programmers at the same time.
• Functionalities that needs throughout consistent performance
• Functionalities that are developed in short time or in panic mode.
• Functionalities that had recent updates or bug fixes.
• Functionalities those are most important to the customer.
• Functionalities that are developed using new technology and tools.

You can also take suggestions from developers to test the bug prone functionalities.

Prioritize your test case:

Testing in deadlines can be effective if you prioritize your test cases:

• Prefer test cases for functionalities, which could cause most customer support and complaints.
• Prefer test cases that could cover multiple functionalities or features at the same time.
• Prefer test cases that could cover high-risk-coverage at the minimum time.
• Prefer test cases for functionalities which could be of similar/related previous projects that caused problems (in terms of user reported bugs). Correlate them to the current application and try to use it to your advantage.

Use automation tools:

Using automation tools allows regression testing to be done in a less time. There are many test automation tools in the software market e.g. Selenium, Watir, QTP, LoadRunner, etc. Automation tools can help you in executing more test cases in short time. These tools take one third of your time and resource as compared to manual testing. In addition, such tools often detect more bugs. Once the test setup is done, the automation tools run tests that repeat predefined actions, comparing program expectations and actual outcomes. There are few types of testing which can be done only with automation tools such as: stress, volume and performance testing. Although these tools require some initial investment into training, learning and building an infrastructure, but they save your time in long run.

Implementing above guidelines will help ensure deliverable of high quality software in tight deadlines that enhance the confidence, trust and positive perception for the company.