The Importance of Manual Testing in Software Development at Slash • Slash

All the applications you have been using so far have gone through a series of tests. These tests assure whether the actual results meet the expected results, allowing developers to remove the bugs from the products before they are released.

However, there are various kinds when you talk about software testing, and at Slash, we test applications using Manual Testing methods.

So if you’re not sure what Manual Testing is? And why and how do we use it? Carry on reading this article to get valuable knowledge about testing, its types, and the step-by-step Manual Testing process we use at Slash.

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Software Testing and Its Types

All applications go through the testing phase before they are out in the market. Testing helps developers know the exact problems to overcome issues to make the product more user-friendly.

A few renowned tests other than the Manual Test include:

White Box Testing: To test the internal coding, design, and structure of the software.
Black Box Testing: To test the functionalities of applications with knowing the internal details, such as coding structure, internal paths, and more.
Gray Box Testing: To test a software product with half-knowledge of the internal structure.

So what exactly is ‘Manual Testing,’ and why do developers at Slash suggest this testing type? Let’s move on to the next part of the article to know more about manual testing.

Manual Testing and Its Perks

Manual Testing is one of the software testing types where a tester executes test cases manually without involving any automated tools. This test aims to identify the issues, defects, and bugs in the software product. Manual testing can be both white box, black box or gray box.

Benefits of Manual Testing

Manual testing is a primitive software testing technique with several key advantages compared to other methods:

Identification of major issues
UI and UX problems can be easily detected
Low cost with zero environmental restrictions
Assures the user-friendliness of the software application since its done by a human

Slash on Manual Testing

Why is Manual Testing Encouraged at Slash?

The development team is often concerned about time and budget when it comes to software development. And since the other software testing types are pretty expensive, clients usually skip the testing part, as it adds an extra cost to the overall budget.

However, Manual Testing is less costly as compared to other testing methods. And apart from that, we strongly believe that software testing saves time and budget in the long run, and allows for a codebase to be maintain-able.

“At Slash, we begin the Manual Testing at an early stage of application development, as doing so helps us identify bugs in the very beginning, making it easier and inexpensive to remove the bugs out of the product.” – Peter Prak, Principal Developer at Slash

Prak further explains that with the help of Manual Testing, developers are confident that the new product they are about to release is free from problems. Why? Because all the bugs come into notice of the developers early, saving the newborn application from receiving poor reviews and a bad worth of mouth promotion.

So, does that mean Manual Testing takes place only in the beginning?

Not at all! In fact, Manual Testing is used to test the product at every stage of development to ensure the quality and functionality of the product.

The Two Segments of Manual Testing at Slash

Currently, Slash divides Manual Testing into two parts.

Acceptance Testing

With the help of Acceptance Testing, the development team understands how users will receive the new application once it is released. Plus, it also questions the team whether or not they have made the product according to the client’s requirements.

Integration Testing

“After the Acceptance Testing, the development team tests the product with the Integration Testing, where all the individual functions are tested as a whole.” – Peter Prak.

In other words, Integration Testing helps test all the relevant functions and find bugs to recognize how all functions interact with each other when they are joined together as a business scenario.

Step-by-Step Process of Manual Testing at Slash

Below are the steps used by Slash’s development team to perform manual testing.

Gathering Business Requirements

First, the QA team collects business requirements and all other essential information, such as UX/UI Design, User Stories Acceptance Criteria, and more, from the PO. QA is considered one of the crucial parts of the development team. The members of QA are involved in the planning process in order to understand and discuss business requirements.

Designing Test Case Scenarios

After collecting the business requirement, the QA team begins to design test cases based on the gathered information. When the cases are designed, each one is carefully reviewed by the PO and QA Lead, as all test cases could have both positive and negative scenarios.

Performing Manual Test

Right after the development team completes the test case implementation, the QA team starts Manual Testing on the product’s functions (both individually and as a whole) to identify bugs.

Reporting Bugs

The QA team does all the bug finding and informs the PO about their catch. Then both (PO and QA team) discuss every single bug and prioritize them based on severity, allowing the team to analyze which bug must be fixed first.

Monitoring Bugs

Once the bugs are known and prioritized, the QA team monitors them to confirm whether the development team can fix them. And if even the bugs are fixed, is there still any way left for them to show up again in the product?

Software Release

Lastly, when the bugs are fixed, and stories are implemented as expected, they are released to the UAT environment by the QA team.

Conclusion

Manual Testing is a type of application software testing in which every function is tested by creating a test plan for every user story, testing it and then fixing bugs. Although there are many other ways to test software, Manual Testing is still the most inexpensive method to identify serious UX and UI design drawbacks. And that allows developers to produce a user-friendly product for the client with less bugs (we’re yet to see a bug-free product!).