Apart from cross-browser testing, QA testing plays a vital role in ensuring the quality, functionality, and dependability of the product. One of the most crucial processes involved in software development is quality assurance (QA) testing, which guarantees the quality, functionality, and dependability of the product. There are several methods, tools, and approaches to QA testing that can be used depending on the project’s requirements, specifications, and objectives. This write-up explores some of the outstanding QA testing techniques that will guarantee the delivery of excellent software products to your customers and users.
What is a QA Strategy?
A QA (Quality Assurance) strategy is a strategy that dictates how an organization will assure quality in its products or services. The project management plan includes objectives, scope, testing methods, resources, schedule, communication, risk assessment, metrics, compliance, and continuous improvement. Critical to quality assurance, it is a guide for providing quality throughout a project or an organization.
Why Should You Have a QA Strategy?
It should be used because it gives you a set of constant tools, tests, roles, and expectations. It will make sure that all the team members are focused on the same goal and will possess one vision.
Second, you have a well-defined process and best practices guidelines. It ensures that there are rules on the way to do it. For example, the best approach to writing test cases should be in line with the standardized tool that you are employing.
However, one thing I noted is that the QA strategy at some point became to align all team members, invite questions, and prevent a client release delivering defects. The main purpose is that it should eliminate escape defects.
Project managers also favor the QA strategy because organizations could create schedules, releases, and levels of effort for release in the project. Such an approach will make it easier to estimate a clear strategy that can, in turn, help the project manager allocate a level of effort more properly.
Some four key value adds:
- Standards that were applied included functional and non-functional testing. Regression testing and testing of specified high-priority areas outlined by customer’s requirements constitutes functional testing. Non-functional testing encompasses areas such as security, performance, and accessibility testing.
- Improving the reputation as the quality of the product is heightened.
- Fewer expenditures due to a lesser number of defects in the sold product.
- It enabled you to go ahead of the customers and experiment with the product. You can make many changes and iterate on the product when you have a clear regressive test pack.
What Comprises an Effective QA Strategy?
When crafting a QA strategy from the ground up, it can indeed seem like a daunting task. Let’s break down the essential components and work through them together:
- Mission Statement: The first step entails formulating a mission statement for your QA strategy and stating its objectives and values clearly. A statement of mission, for instance, for such kind of software may read as, “Empowering organizations using the application enabling them to offer their clients with cutting edge solutions to get the upper hand.”
- Objectives and Goals: Establish specific, meaningful, attainable, relevant, and timely goals matching customer’s requirements and expectations. For instance, a SMART goal for running a marathon would be: I will commence running a marathon every day starting today using my Apple watch as my training tracker and being ready for the marathon within one year.
- Acceptance Criteria: Specify the metrics on which your QA will be founded. For instance, “as a user I need to recover my password in order to have access to my account when I forget it.”
- Roles and Responsibilities: Set clearly the roles and responsibilities of the persons concerned in the process while specifying the skills required to execute the respective roles and setting the deadlines. An example is, “The Test Analyst will handle QA with manual testing skills and good attention to detail. They should write test cases, run tests within the current week, and track progress in JIRA.”
- Critical Success Features and Measures: What are the metrics to be used in evaluating your QA strategy as time goes on? Examples include:
- Total number of test cases
- Number of passed test cases
- Number of failed test cases
- Post-release detected bugs count,
- The metrics such as test effort and coverage percentage.
- Testing Approach: Describe how it will be carried out. In the following session, we will talk about what is needed for a good testing approach that will help you produce one of your own.
These components provide a structured foundation for your QA strategy.
A Few of the Best Quality Assurance Testing Strategies
Define the Scope and Objectives
When planning a QA testing strategy, you have to determine the scope and goals of the testing first. It entails considering the attributes, operations, and prerequisites of the software item, the intended end product, risk areas, and the problems involved. You also need to set out definitions of how you are going to measure the quality and performance of the product, like defect rate, test coverage, users’ satisfaction, and so forth. You can conduct your testing procedures efficiently by clearly defining the scope and objectives.
Choose the Right Testing Methods
Some of the methods include functional testing, non-functional testing, manual testing, automated testing, unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing, among others. The testing procedures have their pros and cons. Ensure to adopt those that are relevant to your project objectives and necessities.
For instance, functional testing ensures that the software product operates according to the specifications, while non-functional testing involves performance, usability, security, and compatibility. Manual testing is performed by human testers who execute the test cases without any tools or scripts, and automated testing uses tools and scripts to run the test cases automatically. Integration testing looks at the way diverse units operate together with each other, and unit testing checks different pieces of code or a separate piece of code. The acceptance test determines whether the product satisfies the expectations and requirements of the users or the stakeholders, whereas the system test verifies a system as a whole.
Use the Right Testing Tools
Testing tools are software applications or programs that are designed to offer you support in carrying out different testing activities, including writing test cases, execution of test cases, generation of test data, recording results of the test, reporting on errors identified during a test, etc. There are many testing tools in the market; you need to use those that fit your testing methodology, project specification, and budget.
Using proper testing tools ensures the quality and reliability of software products.
These tools help in different areas of the testing process, such as test case generation to results reporting. When choosing testing tools, you should take into account such aspects as your testing approach, project specifications, and financial capacities. You should also incorporate one such tool known as LambdaTest into your list of testing tools.
LambdaTest is an AI powered test orchestration and execution platform that will enable you to carry out cross-browser testing and compatibility of your web apps in different browsers and operating systems. Here’s how it fits into the context of selecting testing tools:
- Cross-Browser Testing: supports your web application to be deployed on different browsers such as Chromium and Safari browser online. It is necessary because every user in that system will have their browser to open the application.
- Platform Support: LambdaTest supports various operating systems; hence, you will be able to test your web applications in diverse environments, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Cloud-Based: LambdaTest is a cloud-based platform, hence flexible and scalable. It is accessible from everywhere and is also capable of dealing with hundreds or thousands of concurrent tests, making it fit for both smaller and larger tasks.
- Integration with Other Tools: Integrating LambdaTest with such testing frameworks and tools as Selenium, JUnit, TestNG, and others will help you expand your testing capabilities.
- Bug Reporting: LambdaTest also includes issue tracking and reporting tools used for detailing and managing problems found in the course of testing.
LambdaTest should be integrated into your testing toolkit. It will enable you to extend your testing capabilities to check whether your web applications are functional, responsive, and cross-browser compatible. However, this is more important now in the present diverse web environment, where users run apps on different apparatuses and browsers.
Follow the Best Testing Practices
In order to make sure that your QA testing strategy works perfectly and economically, you must follow some of the best testing practices, which are generally approved and acknowledged in the QA world. Start testing early into the software development lifecycle process and prioritize the features and functions that are most critical and significant for the software product. From the developer’s perspective, the user’s perspective, the business perspective, and the tester’s perspective. In addition, use various kinds of data and scenarios that will test the robustness, credibility, and functionality of the product in multiple conditions and instances. Lastly, seek feedback and collaboration with other stakeholders so as to enhance communication, coordination, and understanding of project requirements, expectations, goals, quality, performance, and others.
Revise Your Testing Strategy.
Lastly, you should conduct periodic reviews aimed at improving your testing strategy. It entails assessment of the results, outcomes, and value-added of your testing activities, tools, and processes, as well as identification of your testing strategy strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Collect and analyze feedback, suggestions, and recommendations from developers, users, clients, and managers to improve your testing strategy. Through reviewing and enhancing your testing strategy, you will ensure that the testing strategy matches the changing needs, demands, and expectations related to the project, the market, and the latest QA industry practices and standards.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a well-defined and effective Quality Assurance (QA) testing strategy is an essential element in the software development process. It serves as the guiding document that ensures all stakeholders are aligned on quality assurance approaches, tools, and expectations. By following best practices and selecting appropriate testing methods and tools, you can deliver high-quality, reliable software products that meet the needs of your customers and users.
Selecting the right testing tools, like LambdaTest for cross-browser testing, is equally important. These tools streamline test case creation, execution, and reporting, enhancing the efficiency of your testing process.
