How to review your software testing strategy

Today, it is impossible to imagine a successful company that would develop software without conducting preliminary QA testing. Since fierce competition in the software market requires manufacturers to update their products as quickly as possible, continuous integration and delivery are at the forefront. And this, in turn, means that the work on QA testing is not limited only to complex activities within the framework of pre-release preparation. The product must be tested with every update. And this already presupposes a long-term Software Testing Strategy.

Large development companies reserve about 23% of their annual budget for testing and other QA activities. Such a significant expense to ensure the stability of your product is the inevitable price to pay for success in the market oversaturated with offerings, where users, barely faced with problems, are ready to immediately turn to applications from competitors.

Strategy is not a dogma, but a development map

It is not worth reinventing the wheel to create a logical and practical testing strategy for your software. It would be much more productive to turn to the experience of well-known companies, which have long been specialized in the field of Quality Assurance.

Testing experts https://testfort.com invariably emphasize: 100% elimination of errors in any software is impossible. The main task of testers is to timely detect and fix critical faults and identify those parts of the code where the appearance of such errors is potentially possible in the future.

It was formalized long-term strategies and a clear definition of priorities that allowed leading software development and testing companies to define a set of software test metrics. This approach reduced their annual Quality Assurance costs from 35% in 2015 to 23% in 2019.

When developing a web application testing strategy, it is essential to understand that this document, on the one hand, should exclude any ambiguous wording. On the other hand, it should be flexible enough to timely respond to the changing situation on the market and in the IT world.

First of all, when starting to create a strategy, it is vital to understand not only and not so much your plans for the development and maintenance of a specific software product, but also your vision of the development of your team (at least, it's core) as a whole. Understanding where your company is today and where you want to see it tomorrow is the basis of such a document.

In this context, it would be pretty logical to choose an outsource QA testing company that has proven itself in the market, study its portfolio, a package of proposals, and, based on these data, involve its testing experts in the joint development of a strategy.

Create checklists

Let's consider that your company does not specialize in software testing, and if it is not a large corporation that can allow itself to have its own staff of testing experts, constantly busy with work. So, you will definitely have to plan long-term cooperation with an outsourcing software testing company.

Regardless of whether you start enlisting specialists from this partner company, contact independent consultants, or decide to draw up your Software Testing Strategy yourself, you should pay attention to the following items.

Your requirements as a customer.
Your product's current specifications and direction for scaling.
List of imperative and optional tests.
Your budget.
Technical equipment and level of training of the outsourcing software testing team.

Don't forget the great SMART algorithm. Check the compliance of your strategic plans against the following criteria

S - specificity
M - measurability
A - reachability
R - relevance
T - targeting specific dates

Break up upcoming tests by group and priority

Tests that can be automated. For them, you need to draw up clear terms of reference, which will allow you to develop a single algorithm.
Repetitive tests. This testing method is directly related to the previous one. The right approach at the start will save you a lot of time and money in the future.
Tests that can only be performed manually.
Tests that can and should be performed only in automatic mode.
Tests that require preliminary collection and processing of a large amount of data.

Check to see if you have intersections in these positions and, where possible, choose the most economically and temporally preferred option.

Bring in experienced testing experts and, in consultation with them, identify those software test metrics that most closely match the profile of your software product. To do this, of course, first formalize this profile. Indicate:

target user group;
scope and potential threats;
the intensity of use;
data security requirements;
cross-platform or the OS specifications.

This list, of course, can be continued indefinitely, and you can add the missing items to it. However, in any case, you need such a checklist at the start to avoid unnecessary expenses and at the same time not to miss critical factors.

Summing up

Defining your Software Testing Strategy is a process that requires both clarity and creativity. Be sure to take into account both purely technical and organizational factors. Regularly revise your strategy, check it for compliance with the time's requirements, and promptly make adjustments and changes as necessary.