Quality assurance (QA) specialists have a lot of methods and practices they follow to ensure software, apps, websites and other code are as efficient and secure as possible. While there are many testing methods and practices to follow, the following are some of the most commonly used by cloud testing services.
1. Discovery Phase
QA teams should always start with the discovery phase. This is a phase that includes a quality assurance engineer who sits down with the entire team and discusses the product with everyone.
The QA engineer has to learn about the software in-depth so that he or she can:
• Provide an overview of the coding from a different perspective
• Add their experience to the project
• Discuss common issues found and address them early on
• Forecast and prevent common issues
• Discuss compatibility concerns, issues and services
When QA teams are brought into the project early on, they’re able to discuss and plan projects from the start to streamline the development process. There’s no exact roadmap to follow, and there will be unforeseen issues, but the discovery phase helps reduce many of these hiccups along the way.
2. Test-driven Development
Agile software development revolves around test-driven development. The process is one of the main principles in modern development because it allows for the highest quality product. What test-driven development allows for is:
• Frequent product releases
• Short development cycles
Tests are added into the coding when a function is added or charged. The test will ensure that the feature meets its basic goals. The built-in test ensures that the code is initially accurate and can be further tested by the QA team.
When test-driven development is in place, it allows for code to be tested from the start and allows for a more robust product.
3. Feature Code Review
When changes to code are made, it’s important that the code be added to a new branch. Local testing allows you to review the changes made and features added. QA experts should provide developers with:
• Code reviews
• Documentation of issues
Every new feature should be added to a code review that is checked by other team members. The code review aims to find weaknesses that were overlooked by the original developer and take steps to resolve them.
Developers shouldn’t look at code reviews as a way to dimmish their own skills – it’s a best practice that strengthens code.
QA testers can review all of the coding to make sure that it’s well-structured and is as secure as possible. Features should also be tested to make sure that the basic functionality and goal of the feature is met.
4. Planning and Recording
The planning and recording process is one that a lot of new development teams view as a “waste of time.” But it’s the planning and recording that can help speed up a project and make it a success. Planning should be considered a quality control practice. QA teams should start with:
• Checklists
• Testing documentation
The documentation allows you to have a general outline of the tests that will be conducted. Documentation will also include the required:
• Devices
• Best practices
• Tools
• Environments
Recording will ensure that all tests are well-documented and that bugs are listed in a way that makes sense to the development team. When recording systems allow for issues to have priorities, dates and descriptions, it allows for a journal that developers can follow to ensure issues are corrected in a timely manner.
5. Integration Testing
New features and code may run well in isolation when the code hasn’t been added to the original production code. The quality assurance team needs to be sure that the code is able to integrate neatly into the existing code and not break features. Integration testing allows testing teams to add new code into existing code to be sure that the code:
• Runs as expected
• Doesn’t break existing features or code
Features that work seamlessly in isolation can break existing code that has been well-tested. Adding coding can cause errors and unexpected bugs that can lead to lost users. Features must be tested when it’s added to the whole product to ensure it’s ready for production.
Professional quality assurance teams have a lot of ways to make sure development is as smooth and bug-free as possible.
Meta Description: QA testers follow a lot of best practices and methods to find bugs, broken code and issues with software. Learn five key ways to enhance the QA process today