Manual testing is a software testing practice in which human intervention is required in finding bugs. This technique of testing becomes a cumbersome process as the levels to the test process keeps adding up. As it involves application of human mind in finding bugs/defects from an existing software, the method often brings out a lot of intricacies to the testers.
Few drawbacks that make manual testing a not-so-preferable choice among software testers are-
- It is a slow and costly process.
- The output of manual testing is not very reliable.
- Manual testing isn’t a very consistent in nature.
- Lack of training may not reap productive results.
- Managing the entire data becomes a difficult task.
Manual Testing: Best Practices
To overcome the demerits of manual testing, following is a list of activities or the best practices that must be adopted by manual testers in order to achieve great results.
- Thoroughly Design and Document Tests: It is important to emphasize more on the design details and documentation using which a tester shall be able to achieve quite measured and accurate results. The idea is to arrive at a consensus, having the test requirements peer reviewed by the team of testers.
- Utilize the bright side of Manual Testing: Automation may reduce time and total amount of effort invested by manual testers, but it is always advisable to carry out testing manually in order to apply human mind to a specific problem.
- Strike a balance among Test Activities: Divide time and resources accordingly by establishing well-defined procedure for completing tasks.
- Rank Test Cases based on Different Metrics: Always prioritise test cases, finish the high risk tasks first moving on to next consecutive ones. Finally rank the test cases on the basis of importance, impact on quality, risk factor, the frequency of the feature being used etc.
- Allocate a Separate Budget for Testing: A separate budget is allocated to testing activities for a software. Assessing return on investment is one of the important facts in manual testing because a company is definitely spending for some purpose, and the purpose need to be fulfilled.