A lot of people think that software testing is just a matter of doing test after test on any given tech product to catch bugs. But, as it happens with a lot of things in software development, there’s plenty more to do besides that. While tests are obviously the core of the testing phase, there’s an underlying strategy and a comprehensive process that strings all those tests together.
Best Practices for Software Testing
There’s another big consideration about software testing. During a lot of time, testing was the last phase, the final step in the software development process where engineers looked for errors to fix and streamline the product. Fortunately, many development teams are finally catching up with what BairesDev has done all along – testing should be an ongoing effort throughout the development.
But that’s not the only best practice when it comes to software testing. Here are 8 additional ones that we at BairesDev use on a daily basis for successful testing.
#1 Make Communication a Core Value
This applies to the entire software development team but it’s especially important for the testing team. Why? Because testing is an ongoing process that touches multiple points throughout the development. If the entire team is up to date with what’s happening with the testing process, everyone will be able to help in the testing efforts. In other words, testers and software engineers have to communicate regularly to know all the details of the work at hand. This can dramatically reduce risks and vulnerabilities while also improving the final results.
#2 Test with the Future in Mind
Each and every digital solution needs to be scalable and adaptable. That’s because the tech world is constantly changing and evolving, so the products you build have to be able to keep pace. That has a considerable impact on the development of the software, as it influences the choices you make along the way, from the architecture you use to the way you code. Naturally, it also influences testing, as a future-focused testing effort should go beyond just identifying vulnerabilities and cover the development process itself. Thus, testing can also help streamline the way you build your digital solutions, making them more robust, scalable, and easily updatable.
#3 Report as Thoroughly as Possible
We know that reporting bugs can be a dull task but it’s key to helping engineers understand and fix the problems in your software. That’s why you should insist that all bug reports are as detailed as possible but without becoming a bulky document no one will read in their entirety. It’s a tricky balance to achieve but a really needed one at that. Good reports can help engineers see the severity of the issues, prioritize the fixes, and even come up with new development ways to prevent those bugs from happening again.
#4 Insist on Peer Reviews
Peer reviews aren’t a new practice in software development but, unfortunately, a lot of development teams often leave them aside to speed up the process. But, by doing that, they lose a valuable opportunity to identify bugs and introduce improvements to the code. That’s why at BairesDev we encourage developers to conduct peer reviews. That practice brings engineers together in micro teams that monitor each other to offer a much-needed pair of fresh eyes to check on the code. That ensures that the code has been thoroughly analyzed before moving forward. Besides, it’s a great way for engineers to bond and teach each other new things.
#5 Document the Product Properly
Speaking of practices that are often neglected, here comes documentation, a crucial practice for any successful project. Ignoring documentation can be extremely harmful to the development team, as other team members will be lost when reviewing the code and working on new features or pieces. Thus, you need to take time to document everything your team creates both for internal and external consumption. In other words, you should encourage your team to comment on the code where needed but also to create thorough user guides that can provide further value to the end-user.
#6 Put Security in the Testing Spotlight
Testing practices try to improve a software solution to guarantee a superior and seamless performance but it also serves as an effective way to shield the product from digital threats. That’s why you should always introduce a series of tests that are security-motivated, such as penetration tests. Thinking like a malicious actor and trying to hack your own program can go a long way to understanding your software’s weaknesses and devising better ways to strengthen it.
#7 Choose the Right Testing and Management Tools
Fortunately, we’re living in a time when there are plenty of tools to help you do your work. That’s also true for software testing, a field that boasts countless testing and management platforms. While being able to pick from that wide variety is a great thing, it can also be overwhelming and frustrating. That’s why we suggest you analyze the tools available to you to truly understand the pros and cons of each one. Consider aspects such as ease of use, cost, integration with your current tools, and scalability, all of which are crucial factors to selecting the right tool.
#8 Aim for Code Quality, Always
At BairesDev, we have one certain goal – to ensure that all the tech solutions we build are of the highest quality. Good quality directly relates to performance and efficiency, so you should never sacrifice it in order to get some short-term gain (such as meeting a deadline). That’s why we push our developers to implement the best coding practices available. Peer reviews also help with this, as they can catch involuntary mistakes and open up suggestions to improve the code from other engineers. In the end, instituting the best software development practices directly impacts testing, as high-quality code reduces the issues testers have to deal with.
#9 Good Testing as a Path to High Quality
All of these are proven practices that can certainly improve the final quality of the products you develop. But that’s not all – they can also elevate the quality of your development process by helping you identify its weaknesses. The combination of all these practices through a continuous testing effort is the best course of action you have today to guarantee the software lives up to the expectations you and your users can have around it.
How do we know? Because these are the basic testing principles we follow at BairesDev. Our testing teams aren’t just highly skilled and experienced but have also internalized these practices to provide the best testing services to our clients. That has resulted in increased client satisfaction and an enhanced software development process, the ultimate goal of our company. If you share those goals, then we suggest you revamp your testing process with these practices.
