Mistakes made by QA testers and how testing software can help to avoid them

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It's human to make mistakes and it happens to everyone, including software testers. However, it can affect the testing process to a huge extent. That’s why with this article we would like to show how using testing software such as QAlity or QAlity Plus can help you eliminate them or mitigate their consequences when they happen. So, here are the common mistakes made by QA testers and some possible solutions to them:

Not having a good plan for your testing

With software like QAlity Plus, planning your tests doesn’t have to be a complicated process at all. It can be easier and more convenient as the test script is under a Jira task. In order to plan what and how exactly you want to test, you can use a test case and its test steps. Whatever you want to achieve with your test, write it down as an Expected result  – it’s a definition of your desired outcome of the test. You can also include information like test data (data connected with this particular step) and test attachments (like images and other useful files). This allows a better description of how your tests should be performed. Test cases can later be grouped into test cycles which will basically function as your testing plan – they will tell you what will be done and who will do it. 

Lack of proper organization

With all the test cases and bugs, you can easily get lost in the process if you don’t organize it well. Fortunately, there are things that can be done to prevent that. You can:

• Use folders to organize your test cases

• Use Repository to view and manage all your test cases in one place

• Add labels to group test cases into different areas

• Use custom fields to filter out the test cases you need

• Use checkboxes to categorize your Jira issue types

Not using the tools properly/ to their full potential

There is a wide choice of tools QA testers can select from. As they offer many functions, it’s worth getting to know the tool properly. This will let you avoid using it in the wrong way and e.g. record testing results in test cases that are supposed to specify how to test a given feature. We advise getting familiar with the app’s documentation such as this one describing QAlity. What can also help are how-to guides that will help you take advantage of your software’s full potential.

Fail to communicate

Proper communication between the people involved is crucial to your project’s success. Testing software in general makes it more transparent and, as a consequence, smoother. To achieve that, the following can be done:

• To communicate with your team, you can use a dashboard. It displays tests and test cycles that have recently been carried out. So, if you don’t inform others of the current status of the tests, they will still see it on the dashboard. Each team member can access the dashboard whenever they want to. They can also click a test case and see details of it right away. 

• In QAlity, test cases are right under Jira tasks – anyone can see them, their status, and all comments whenever needed. No need for extra messages with updates.
• The whole team can also look at the test cycle overview that shows all tests that need to be performed.
• You can use different reports for clearer communication. For example, QAlity provides advanced reporting and analytics that can be shared with anyone interested. 

Not improving the efficiency of your testing

With testing software, you can be more efficient and many processes can take significantly less time. You can for example:

• Clone a test cycle instead of creating a new one every single time.
• Perform bulk operations such as bulk update test steps status, bulk add test cases to test cycles, transition, delete, move, edit, watch/stop watching, and archive multiple issues.
• It can be really time-consuming to search for a bug’s history. This time can be saved by taking a look at the test execution history.

Not updating regression tests
If you use the same data and never update your regression tests, no new defects are found. That leads to a situation when critical bugs are overlooked. Whenever this happens to you, what can help is QAlity’s bug traceability report which will point out which tests have the biggest number of bugs. This will give you insight into what exactly should be looked into and perhaps improved. 

Summary

This article presented some common mistakes made by software testers. We believe that these mistakes can be dealt with or prevented by using testing software such as QAlity or QAlity Plus . As a consequence, your testing process will be more efficient and effective. If you would like to know more about the options QAlity offers, feel free to drop us a line.