Quality Assurance (QA) in Software Testing: QA Views & Best Practices

Anyone who doubts the importance of quality assurance (QA) in software development and testing only needs to look at recent security breaches and research. Cyber-attacks are becoming more common as more people work from home. 

QA and testing in software quality assurance company ensure that the root causes of these and other types of vulnerabilities are identified and eliminated before they reach production. Here are some best practices to ensure your QA process is effective.

1. Purchase a Secure Testing Environment

While the cloud is excellent for team collaboration and communication, it is not ideal for software development and testing. Just as medical scientists require a clean, secure laboratory to conduct experiments, developers require a secure local testing laboratory to do so theirs. This means that the lab must be located somewhere away from the internet, which has an endless list of vulnerabilities.

2. Conduct Tests throughout the Life Cycle

Testing throughout the software development life cycle, SDLC reduces the burden during quality assurance (QA). Some believe that is the only time to try, but testing early and frequently allows you to find and fix errors as you go. Leaving everything until QA places a significant burden on your workforce, and you have a lower chance of producing high-quality software than if your team tested at every stage.

3. Carry out smaller tests

Smaller tests should be performed as an extension of testing at each stage. Deconstructing avoids budget and resource overloads, both of which are common threats.

4. Accept Negative Testing

Positive testing ensures that the application can function as expected. While it is impossible to create test cases for every possible scenario, testing for adverse or unexpected conditions increases your chances of maximising coverage. Rather than ensuring that everything works under normal conditions, negative testing produces a more robust application with fewer flaws.

5. Perform Regression Testing

Changing code all the time to solve one problem can easily lead to another. Reusable regression tests are an excellent practice to adopt, especially when it comes to Agile software development. This ensures that the code added to solve one issue does not cause another. To make the process even more effective, test cases should be properly separated and bugs should be graphed to make it easier to identify problem areas.

6. Write tests ahead of time and don't rely on programmers to do it.

Running tests beforehand, also known as test-driven development has several advantages, including saving time by correcting errors before putting down new code. It also avoids code duplication, which is a time thief. Don't let the programmers write tests against their own code for the best results. While this appears to be the most convenient solution, it introduces a bias that can stymie progress. This move also lacks creativity and the ability to challenge the code in such a way that it is pushed to improve.

7. Keep Observations for Reports.

Whether the tests are manual or automated, taking notes and making observations on all activities eliminates ambiguity. They also provide excellent training materials as well as a solid foundation for configuration documents and manuals.

8. Code Cleaning

Cleaning code entails organising the house. Making code as concise as possible, for example, makes it easier for another developer to follow in future testing. Code simplification also means less maintenance.