As a software quality assurance engineer, your job is to ensure that the software product you are working on meets the required standards of quality software development is a crucial part of every business.
Testing is an essential part of software development, as it helps to ensure that software applications meet the specified requirements and are free of defects. Testing helps to identify and fix defects early in the development cycle, reducing the risk of costly rework and delays later on.
Many types of testing are performed throughout the software development lifecycle including unit testing, integration testing, system testing, acceptance testing, and regression testing. Each of these testing types serves a specific purpose and helps to ensure that the software application is high quality and meets the end user's needs. There are two primary approaches to software testing which are:
Manual testing
Automation testing.
Each approach has advantages and disadvantages, and it is essential to understand them before choosing a path.
Manual Testing
Manual testing is a process of verifying and validating software applications by a human tester who performs various tests, such as functional, usability, and exploratory testing. The tester acts as the end-user and performs specific actions on the application to ensure that it meets the specified requirements through checklists, test scripts, or ad hoc testing, which involves human intelligence and judgment to discover defects that automated testing may miss. Manual testing is an essential part of the testing process and is used in the early stages of testing when the software is still evolving while the test cases are constantly changing.
Advantages
Human intervention: Human intervention is an advantage in manual testing for several reasons. Human testers can use their intuition and creativity to discover defects and identify unexpected or unusual behavior in the software. It can lead to the discovery of defects that may have gone unnoticed, improving the overall quality of the software application. The use of manual testing also improves feedback on the usability and user experience of the software application. Usability testing is an essential part of manual testing and involves testing the software application from the end-user perspective.
Flexibility: This is a crucial advantage of manual testing as it allows testers to easily modify test cases according to their needs and quickly identify any issues that may arise during testing.
While the software application evolves and the testing process progresses, the testing requirements may change.
Manual testers can easily modify test cases to adapt to these changes, ensuring the software application is thoroughly tested and meets the specified requirements. It allows the testing process to be flexible and responsive to changing needs and priorities.
Cost-effective: Manual testing is a cost-effective way to test software applications, as it does not require specialized tools or resources, such as test automation frameworks and hardware environments. Manual testing only requires human testers and minimal tools, such as checklists, test scripts, and ad hoc testing. It makes manual testing an accessible and cost-effective option for software development teams with limited resources. Additionally, manual testing can be integrated with automated testing to provide a more comprehensive testing approach, reducing the cost of testing while ensuring the software application meets the specified requirements.
Disadvantages
Time-consuming: Manual testing can take longer than automated testing and may require significant effort and resources to execute comprehensive tests on large and complex software applications.
Inaccurate results: Manual testing may not provide accurate results, due to the risk of human error, such as testers missing critical defects or introducing new defects during testing.
Not suitable for regression testing: Manual testing may not be good for regression testing. It can be uneasy for testers to ensure that all tests are carried out consistently without mistakes leading to incomplete or inconsistent results.
Automation Testing
Automation testing involves using tools and software to execute tests automatically without human intervention. Automation tests are executed by creating scripts or programs that simulate user actions, such as clicking buttons, entering text, or navigating the application. Automation testing is faster, more reliable, and can run in a loop, which makes it ideal for regression testing.
Advantages
Speed: Automation testing is significantly faster than manual testing. Once the automation tests are created, they can be carried out repeatedly and quickly without human intervention. Automation tests can carry out more test cases in a shorter time compared to manual testing. It allows the software development teams to release software applications to market faster. It can also reduce the time-to-market for the software application, providing a competitive edge in the industry.
Accuracy: Automated tests eliminate the risk of human error in the testing process, leading to more accurate and reliable test results. Automated tests help to execute test cases consistently and accurately every time, regardless of the tester's experience or skill level.
It is crucial for software applications that require a high accuracy level, such as financial or healthcare software, where even little errors can have significant consequences.
Suitable for regression testing: Automation testing is ideal for regression testing. It can execute the same tests repeatedly without any errors. Regression testing involves testing the software application after making changes to ensure that the changes don’t affect the existing functionality. Automated tests can execute the same tests repeatedly, ensuring that any defects or issues fixed in previous releases are in the current version of the software application. It helps prevent regression issues, which can be time-consuming and costly.
Disadvantages
Costly: Automation testing requires specialized tools and resources, such as testing frameworks, test management tools, and automated testing software. These resources can be expensive to purchase and maintain, especially for small software development teams. Additionally, automated tests may require specialized hardware and infrastructure, such as virtual machines or cloud servers, which can increase costs.
Less flexible: Automated tests are designed to execute a specific set of test cases, which can limit their flexibility. Testers may need to modify their test cases to suit the tool's requirements, which can be time-consuming and challenging. Automated tests can also miss defects that require a human's intuition or creativity to identify such defects discovered through exploratory testing.
Limited scope: Automation testing is not okay for testing usability and user experience-related defects.
Automated tests can only simulate user interactions with the software application and cannot replicate the nuances of human behavior or preferences. As a result, it is challenging to automate tests that check for usability and user experience-related defects, such as user interface issues or aesthetic flaws.
Choosing a Method
Project size and complexity: The size and complexity of the project can impact the decision to use manual or automation testing. For smaller projects with limited scope, manual testing may be sufficient. However, for big projects with complex requirements, automation testing may be the better option to ensure that all test cases are efficiently executed.
Budget: The budget available for testing can also impact the choice between manual and automated testing. Manual testing is generally less expensive since it does not require specialized tools or resources. In contrast, automation testing can be more costly due to the need for testing tools and infrastructure.
Available resources: The skill level of the testing team and the availability of testing tools can also impact the decision between manual and automated testing. Manual testing requires a skilled tester that can execute tests accurately and efficiently. In contrast, automation testing requires a team with specialized skills in using testing frameworks and tools.
Summary
Both manual and automation testing have advantages and disadvantages, and they can complement each other to achieve a comprehensive and effective testing strategy. The key is to choose the right approach based on the requirements, scope, and constraints. Automation testing can be advantageous for software development teams. Although, it has some disadvantages. It can be costly to implement and maintain and will not be flexible or adaptable as manual testing. Additionally, automation testing has limited scope and cannot replicate the nuances of human behavior or preferences, making it challenging to test for usability and user experience-related defects. The choice between manual and automation testing will depend on the software development team's specific needs and requirements.
Choosing a testing method depends on several factors, including the size and complexity of the project, the budget, and the available resources.
Manual testing may be suitable for smaller projects or those with limited resources, while automation testing may be more appropriate for larger projects or those requiring extensive testing.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to pursue a career in Quality Assurance Engineering, you should consider learning at The UnbugQA Academy. You will get hands-on training to become a world-class QA Engineer in 3 months.