Testing rapidly or the need to test quickly under shortened execution cycles is not new. Rapid testing has been around for as long as software testing has existed but increases when a product release is imminent, strained, or behind schedule. There are many reasons development gets behind schedule. Similar to testing, development is prone to surprise requirements changes and increases in scope and complexity.
What usually happens is the time lost is regained by shortening the testing schedule. The impact of a shortened testing cycle depends on the complexity of the application, the tester’s experience level, and if continuous testing is used or if all testing is completed near the end of the development cycle. In other words, organizations with continuous unit testing or valid, functional test automation for regression may suffer less than others.
What can be done as a QA to adapt and switch gears? Rapid testing is common. Rapid testing works but the quality of the testing and test coverage relies heavily on tester experience and application knowledge. The keys to effective rapid testing are the techniques used, the tester's knowledge of the application functionality, and a rapid testing strategy or plan.
This guide describes testing techniques and practices for managing rapid test execution while also keeping application quality high.
What To Do When Your Testing Time is Cut Short?
If you’re new to software testing, or part of a team of testers for heavily regulated software, then you may not have experienced the routine occurence of testing time being reduced to hit a previously promised release date. For many software testers timeline changes occur frequently. When backed into a literal testing corner, testers must learn to use a variety of testing techniques that support rapid testing without negatively impacting application quality.
The first step in managing rapid testing is having a plan or strategy. By defining a strategy, testers gain the time to review, experiment, and ensure the strategy works well. Be prepared to update and make changes as lessons are learned. Like many Agile-type projects, rapid testing relies on continuous improvement to fully meet a testing team’s unique needs.
Within your rapid testing strategy, identify:
- Test case priority
- Customer workflows
- Duplicate tests between developers and testers
- Existing test automation
- Recent defects
- List of exploratory tests based on application functional groups
- List of web and mobile app differences, if any
Rapid testing is best performed when it’s planned. However, the first few times it may come as a surprise. In either case, it’ll save you time and effort if you create even a quick testing strategy. A test strategy doesn’t have to be long and complex. Even a simple checklist will work. What you need is to understand what tests are the highest priority for customers and define the minimum testing possible to release a quality application.
Once you know the testing that must be done, effective test suites can be created and tasks assigned. Knowing the number of testers and maximum tests enables testing teams to ensure test coverage needs are met. Sacrificing qualify for speed is never ideal, but often it’s a business reality.
What are Rapid Testing Techniques?
The main goal of rapid testing is to test all application functionality at least once. Testing each function at least once requires understanding the existing test cases and their related objectives. The test cases themselves may be automated or manual, the team just needs to create the test execution suites with tests that exercise each function at least once.
Another way to manage rapid testing effectively is to eliminate test duplication. In other words, don’t simply create a series of regression or smoke test suites randomly without understanding the tests and objectives. 90% of regression suites contain numerous duplicate tests. Executing duplicate tests wastes time. It’s important to limit testing to covering all functionality at least once.
Consider creating a separate rapid testing regression suite made from exploratory test tours developed specifically for customer workflows. In this way, you’ll have a dedicated suite of tests specifically designed for testing the functionality customers use the most.
Another method for reducing test duplication is to test web and mobile apps in tandem. For example, if a web client exists alongside a mobile client, create exploratory test scripts that test both of them at the same time. Cover the functionality of both, along with the data, APIs, and integrations of each all in one test execution. Avoid running the same tests on both platforms separately wherever there are shared elements.
Creating a test suite of exploratory testing may prove useful, but if there’s no time then simply dive in. Dive in by assigning functional areas or customer workflows and have testers run through them. Consider designating a priority for each functional area. Run the highest priority tests first and then continue with the rest. A high-priority test is anything that negatively impacts customers using the application.
How to Decide Which Tests to Execute?
To organize the best value for rapid testing select tests with the following:
- End-to-end test coverage
- Backend functionality tests including APIs, database interactions, and messaging systems
- Essential customer functionality
- Calculation verification
- Critical UI data display
Rapid cycle test suites may include smoke tests but should focus on full regression test cases if possible. Smoke tests are valid and useful, but don’t guarantee an application functions well enough to satisfy a customer’s needs. Successful smoke tests merely indicate the application pages open in a readable state. Most customers will demand more from an application than that all the pages open and the links are accurate.
Imagine you’re getting ready to file government taxes using a cloud-based website. As a customer you’ve entered in all your financial and tax data, and scanned in your receipts, only to find out you can’t submit or save. All the work you’ve put in is now useless and you lose all the data as soon as the application closes. It’s no consolation that all the pages render correctly if you can’t accomplish your goal.
Similarly, it’s critical to verify calculations and all displayed data. Most regression tests can prove API, database, and messaging systems are functioning as expected. If you pass valid data through the system and the calculations work, the backend is functioning. Choosing to include end-to-end tests is helpful in providing customer workflow coverage. Keep in mind the most important goal is keeping the customers happy using the application.
Tips for Managing Quality & Test Coverage
There’s no good way to speed up testing without sacrificing testing quality. However, by creating a rapid test strategy and a suite dedicated to rapid test cycles, testing teams can retain test coverage and still ensure a high-quality release. If you find rapid testing becomes the norm in your organization, consider utilizing continuous testing techniques.
Continuous testing can be performed with both manual and automated tests. Expanding automated test development is also a strong option for times when testing needs to be executed rapidly and repeatedly during the development cycle.
Managing quality is important to ensuring the application releases satisfy customers. After all, without customers, there is no application. It’s business critical to ensure customers can use the application and reach their goals without annoyances, interruptions, or defects.
Rapid testing works and it eliminates waste within the testing process. Plan for rapid testing and develop test suites to support it and your QA testing team will always be prepared to deliver quality.