Top 20 Practical Testing Tips That A Tester Should Know Before Start Actual Testing:

1. Understanding the requirements clearly is the most important step in testing. If requirements are not cleared, test cases would not be effective and hence tester won’t know the expected outcome. He might end up testing the application in a wrong way.

2. Test coverage maximization is the process which gives confidence to the tester that most of the areas are covered in testing. This can be achieved by breaking an application into small modules and design test cases for each module.

3. Auto test for repetitive test cases is the best practice when you have a test suite running every time a new version or build of software is released. This will save your efforts to do the same tests again and saves your time too, so that you can use that time in exploratory or random testing. There are many automation tools are available in the market, choose the one which suits your requirements.

4. Test results must be analyzed properly so that root of the failure is analyzed and related bugs are also found and fixed.

5. Write effective test cases so that bugs are not missed and maximum test coverage is provided with minimum number of test cases.

6. Think out of the box and beyond the requirements. This way many unpredictable bugs are found.

7. Make Effective Regression Test Suite so that every new fix or change introduced into the application does not affect old functionality.

8. Refer previous bugs in parent application as this will give an idea of the most “vulnerable to bugs” part of the application. You will also get to know what kind of bugs were found in parent application and how to process with the testing in a better way for current application.

9. Use the application from user’s perspective and find out what is not right according to user’s expectations. Sometimes, most valuable bugs are found this way and product becomes more usable.

10. Build test environment in such a way that it becomes similar to real time environment to give accurate test results. This will be applicable where real time environment is not available to the testers.

11. Bug report should be precise, has all the steps mentioned clearly and unambiguous. Always use the standard format of the report.

12. Test case design should start at an early phase i.e. with the development itself. This way you would know how many test cases are there and test planning can be started accordingly.

13. Take a note of every code change or requirement update so that no test case is missed and test coverage is maximum. And also, you will be updated with the latest modifications on the application.

14. Perform load / stress testing on the application on a regular basis. Performance testing is one of the important key for success of the application in the market. User always wants a reliable application as he is going to invest his time and money into it.

15. Train the team about the new tools and technology used in the testing. Trained testers can perform testing in a better way than novice ones.

16. Have frequent discussions among team members on bugs and vulnerable areas of the application. This is a very effective step where each team members know what other members are doing and what all bugs are so far fixed.

17. Keep deadlines in mind and try to meet the target before hitting the deadline. Time management is very essential as testing can never be enough. It is important to prioritize the tasks and execute them accordingly.

18. Interact with developers whenever you get any doubt about the functionality, UI, bug fix or new requirement. This will ensure that both tester and developers are on the same page.

19. Provide solutions to make application better, you will be respected for this. Tester not only finds bugs but knows what should be the right functionality.

20. Give your test cases to developer prior to coding so that he may know what he is missing and hence, many obvious bugs are avoided.

21. …

In above list most of them are followed in every organization and some of them are ignored. But if we try and follow each of them then we will be able to avoid many unwanted situations and increase the quality of the product by testing it in a better way.

This list is designed for software testing good practices. I am expecting from this article is that every tester should read this list very carefully and try to implement in there daily testing activity. If anybody having doubts then please ask your questions in comments below, I am going clear your doubts. 

If you check in the above list the point 21 not missed, it is intentionally kept blank. We want you to share your thoughts and experience with us in the Comments Below. You can also share your feedback help all our fresher testing professionals to learn QA concepts.

---

If you are not regular reader of this website then highly recommends you to Sign up for our free email newsletter!! Sign up just providing your email address below: