Testing

July 28, 2013

How to Make Testing More Efficient

Today’s article is aimed at being a handy guide to a few things you can do to make your testing more efficient. It won’t be an in depth, comprehensive explanation of any subject but it will set you thinking on how you can improve on your current practices and make them better and more efficient. Read the below given tips for easy software testing.

 

Tips for Easy Software Testing:

Write fewer test cases

You should not write too many test cases, in fact, write just enough test cases for what is really needed. Make sure the test cases are ‘more agile’ by not hard-coding any test data. Identify test cases that can be reused and if you haven’t hardcoded test data, they can be reused at a later stage if needed. Additionally, when filling out test cases, do not fill in the “expected result” if it is obvious.

Make your test cases shorter

Do not write too long test cases. Divide them into smaller pieces and combine them in a test run. This will make it much easier to update the tests when the system changes.

 

Customize your forms

Customize forms for test cases and bug reports so that they include only the appropriate fields. Too many redundant fields will mean that you and your team will spend precious minutes staring at fields and wondering how you ought to full them out. If you don’t use a field on a regular basis, take it out!

 

Use checklists

Use checklists for tests that can be done in several places in the system.

 

Try exploratory testing

Try exploratory testing. We have a huge stock of articles about exploratory testing on this blog, so check them out, see what applies to you and start exploring exploratory testing today! Use checklists as the basis for exploratory testing and you’re on the way to supercharging your efficiency!

 

User stories for requirements

Write requirements in the form of user stories. Write acceptance test cases simultaneously, so that they finish early.

 

Perform usability tests

Carry out usability tests. Use mock ups and prototypes as much as possible so that you gather feedback early and can act on it right away.

 

Iterate

Work in short iterations. While is true that it is not always possible to work in 2-3 weeks iterations ranging from requirements to deployment, anything is still better than having only two releases per year.

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