3 Ways to Simplify Your Software Testing

We’ve all been there: Your team or teams are juggling several balls at the same time— implementing enterprise software, building a quality app, or working to improve the manual testing process. 

Whether you’re dealing with the testing process or quality assurance, your software testing solution should simplify your next project rather than slow your team down with clunky design and a total lack of modern functionality. 

Simplifying software testing can be as easy as adopting a few of these tried-and-true tips and tactics. A top-level software testing tool can manage the entire process, maximizing your team’s output (and time). Why “reinvent the wheel” with every new project?

Prioritize planning 

It’s a mantra across the business world: “Plan your work; work your plan.” The maxim definitely applies to the world of software testing. 

For example, a super-powered testing platform will allow your team to create and manage milestones—road signs that schedule various project events, such as releases and iterations. Proper planning ensures you get a “50,000-foot” bird’s-eye view of your project. 

Next-level planning encompasses both the testing process and quality assurance. Tips for superior testing planning will include: 

• Using a checklist that empowers your testing team to stay organized with a visual interface that distills individual tasks to smaller steps. 
• Being deliberate when designing requirements and risks. 
• Keeping the end in mind. As the planning stage unfurls, focus on elegant design. When combined with the overall planning process, an actionable design framework allows the team to reuse the design continuously.
• Leveraging a powerful issue-tracking system that includes useful modules: a history/audit trail, filtering functions, prioritization, attachment management, commenting, and time management tools.
• Ensuring your software testing solution employs “high-octane” reporting tools. Reports will reveal strengths and weaknesses of the testing project and emphasize instant insight in terms of progress and status. 

Although related to the testing process, quality assurance is a world unto itself with new issues and challenges. The best software testing tools give QA a flexible set of options and functions, including defining, designing, planning, executing, tracking test results, and resolving issues. 

The following tips can simplify the QA process and save time and frustration:

• Keep a clear overview of all outstanding issues, status, and quality of both testing and retesting. An elevated solution provides an extensive audit trail for QA managers, which in turn creates a structured-approach framework for IT quality. 
• Deploy a top-quality testing tool that maintains tighter control over budgets, objectives, user enhances and overall quality (and simplicity)—from testing to retesting to release. 
• Utilize the power of your own end users—centralizing issue management generates a strong overview of your project’s state of affairs instantly. 
• Insist on intuitive test registration that will involve all end users, leveraging their strengths. 

Avoid Time-Wasters

Time is limited. We all get the same amount every day: 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds (8.64 million milliseconds if you REALLy want to dig down!).

When it comes to your software project, time is especially of the essence. Employ these tips to avoid wasting it.

• Use an intuitive and user-friendly tool allowing any tester (end user or professional) to record results within 30 seconds, whether or not the process is supported with attachments and comments. 
• Stop using Excel for testing. As noted in a previous blog post, “many testers and project managers are still hanging on to outdated software suites, such as Microsoft Excel or even Word.” That’s like using a hammer to change a light bulb—the wrong tool for the job. Well-meaning users can destroy an Excel test script via editing such that it no longer reflects the design and intention of the original. 
• Use a software testing tool that optimizes the editing of large amounts of test runs. High-quality software gives QA managers the option of selecting multiple test runs and extending them by a week, month, or a customized expiration date. 
• Utilize software that offers single sign-on, a tool that allows you the flexibility to employ your favorite identity provider. Single sign-on gives you the freedom to manage your team’s access and authentication securely. You can set up and configure SSO for your company in your application settings by selecting "Single Sign-on" from the menu.

Superb Software Equals Superb Simplicity 

Tactics that simplify your software testing journey are only as good as the tool that fuels them. Your streamlined toolset must “cover all the bases” to give you a winning team: Defining Requirements and Risks, Designing Test Cases, Planning Test Runs, Running Tests, Tracking Test Results, Resolving Issues, and Comprehensive Reporting.

Superb software does it all:

• Allows management to track the entire team’s workload with real-time status and progress reports for test runs, test cases, and issues.
• Includes the ability to view traceability, progress, and coverage. 
• Generates reports per status, impact, category, priority, or organization.
• Maintains manual testing activities with the added functionality to gather data from an automated test (if necessary). 

TestMonitor is a proven and reliable software testing tool that “covers every base.” If you’re ready to boost your team to the winner’s circle, try out a free trial today and simplify your software testing game.