5 Simple Ways to Dodge Test Failures

November 24th, 2015

It is common for every tester to be trapped in certain situations that could limit the efficiency and productivity in the job. The common reasons for such failures are the lack of resources to be able to complete your work, the lack of enough time, and also being surrounded by co-workers who consider your work to be unimportant and do not give it the necessary attention. Any tester could face such kinds of pitfalls, traps, and mistakes if you are not able to work until you get the due respect and credibility for doing the work. Web Application Testing and Windows Application testing are not as easy as people consider them to be. A testing job has its own set of challenges and issues to be faced.

Testers could easily relate to such hurdles several times in their career. Here are a few of these pitfalls and some simple tricks to help you dodge or overcome them easily:

No More Ideas for Testing

This is one of the most common problems faced by any software tester. You get stuck in the middle and keep wondering what more you need to test and how to test it. This is a sort of a block syndrome faced by every tester. You lose your ability to find new bugs in the system or software under test and you get totally confused.
Solution
Here are a few tips to help you overcome this syndrome quite easily:

Read Also: 8 Instances Software Bugs Proved To be too Costly

Brute Cause Analysis, or BCA

This is a sort of brainstorm technique which can be employed easily. One tester has to think about a bug, and the other tester will think of all the possible areas and functions where this bug could be found. Then you could go on to test those specific areas.

Think Out of the Box

Just forget about the specific feature or application or function that you need to test in front of you. Try thinking in another direction, take a step back, and try to reassess the whole situation. Think about other possibilities like performance and load tests, stress tests, functionality tests, and other kinds of tests that involve browsers, devices, platforms, structures, and operations.

Pair Testing

Pair testing could be really advantageous when you run out of ideas. It is nothing but testing in a team of two. Two people sit together to test the software that is under test. You could generate amazing ideas when you sit with someone else and try to brainstorm. Make sure to get a friend of yours to sit with you before you begin your Windows App Testing process.

Missing the Goal of Testing

There are several situations where you are unable to understand what exactly you need to test. You could be having a meeting about this new feature to be tested, but you do not get even a slight hint about what it is supposed to do. When all others in the meeting seem to be getting the point, you start wondering what you lack. In such cases, you may just nod your head so as to not look foolish in front of all others who get the idea. Well, this could be a great problem later on. You will end up in a fix when you have to start test planning and execution for this feature.
Solution

Open Up and Ask Questions

If you want to be an excellent tester, you need to make sure to be vocal and ask relevant questions. You need to have good questioning skills to save you from situations like this. If you do not understand something, it is alright to admit that you do not understand it. Getting it clarified will help you a lot in the long run, or you may have to remain ignorant all through your life.

Learn to read between the lines

When any new application, software, or feature is implemented, there will be some sort of documentation to detail it before work even starts on it. You could refer this to get yourself started. But, you need to do this carefully. You need to read the whole thing carefully, but also realize that there may be things not mentioned in it but implied. You need to find out such implied messages in these project documents to help you to understand the requirements clearly.

Brainstorm

Brainstorming is an effective process for every task. You attend the meeting, ask all kinds of relevant questions, take proper notes, and have understood all requirements well. After that, you need to sit with your windows app testing team and start the brainstorming session. This will yield a whole lot of possible ideas, plans, and strategies for your test project. When all minds come together, you get really innovative ideas gathered up.

Attention Deficiency

It is very common to miss out on certain bugs and issues that are right in front of your eyes. You might be so busy looking out for other test items that you absolutely miss out this prominent bug. It might turn out to be embarrassing later on as it is too obvious to not notice. You just do not realize it as you are so religiously following your test cases. Well, this happens to everyone, and you should not worry too much about it.
Solution

Do not follow the test cases and test matrix blindly

There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before you start on any test case. Once you get the answers to them, adjust your test cases and fill in all missing links before you continue your work. Here are the major questions you need answers to:
“Which part of the specific product functionality is covered by this test case?”
“What are the things this test case covers? What are the things it does not cover?”
“Are there any other methods or ways to test this test case? If yes, what are the methods?”
“Why is this test case so important? What is there about this functionality?”

Bring out a change in your whole approach to the testing process

You need to follow your test cases and test matrices effectively. But, in the process, make sure to keep your eyes open for other things as well. There may be several other things happening during the test execution. Notice these processes also. Even if certain areas are not mentioned in your test cases, try to expand your view and explore them. Subtle looking actions like a small sound or a slight flickering of the button or view could be an indication of some other issue. Such tiny things are extremely significant in Web Application testing, and ignoring them can be a major mistake. Even if they may be in some other test area, make sure to note them down and verify them.

Unsure if It Is Working

There may be certain issues or bugs you find, but you are unsure if they are actually issues or you just did something wrong or missed out certain steps in the test case. As such, you do not report them, and later these issues may be found out by someone else, then this could be a bad reputation for your job.
Solution

Trust the Tester in You

If you find an inner voice telling you something is wrong, trust yourself. You need to learn to trust your instincts in such cases. Report it to the developers if you feel there is some bug and it is not your mistake. Do not hold yourself back. In the worst scenario, the developer/developers may just come back to you telling it was your mistake and you did something wrong like misconfigured the actual settings required or misunderstood the feature. Well, this is far better than ignoring a bug with a confused mind and regretting it later on. Having your manager or customer find out the issue is even more heartbreaking.

Have a Fellow Tester Test it as Well

Get hold of one of your fellow testers and ask them to help you out. They could go through the same test and confirm if what you experience is actually a bug or not. This gives you a double confirmation.

Start Again Afresh

You could just take a short break, relax, and then start the test case all over again. Starting afresh helps you confirm if what you find is actually a bug or not.

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Test or Skip??Is it Safe?

Testing has a huge number of possibilities. You may get confused as to what path you should follow and how you need to approach the testing process. Software and technology are developing day by day. This has also increased the complexity of these systems. As such, a tester has innumerable possibilities to test a single feature or software. With specific deadlines set for this, you may be in for a fix when you need to decide what to test, where to start your testing process, how to approach it, and what can be skipped safely without affecting the quality of the product. This is particularly confusing when you are in for Integration testing.
Solution

Follow the DIQ, or Dive In / Quit, approach

When you get the software to be tested, you also get a list of all the important things that need to be tested in the current iteration. Here, you need to follow the DIQ approach, which is just magical. DIQ stands for Dive In / Quit. As per this approach, you need to pick any one of the critical test items from the list and just dive in completely and test it. In case you find it to be too hard on you, then just quit and take the next item from the list. You just need to continue the dive in and test process until you have implemented all the test ideas completely. Once that is done, just repeat. This process just follows this cycle of taking an item, diving in and testing, quitting when you are unable to go further, repeating the process with another item, and then coming back to the initial item when you completed all the other test items. It is as simple as that!

Collect Intelligence Data

The first step is to have a look at all the existing bugs in the tool you use for bug tracking and make a note of all the bugs that are critical. Then you need to have a talk with the developers to understand the top 10 most critical things in the product under test that could affect a majority of the end users. Make another list with these bugs. Once you have these notes ready, have a look at the review documents, implementer’s guide, user manuals, and all such things that could give you an idea about what is most important in the product from the user’s perspective. These steps will give you a clear idea about what you need to test for in the product. You will then be able to plan your test cases even more effectively.
Failures happen once in a while. The complexity of the software and technology in today’s world is so high that there is enough room for errors and mistakes. Along with this, the methods and techniques of testing also need to change and improve. As a tester, you need to keep evolving. This includes learning the latest trends, keeping you acquainted with all emerging processes, and updating yourself from time to time. There is always room for improvement, and one must always be ready to learn and improve. The chances of failure could be really high if you are not evolving fast enough to keep up with the pace of emerging technology. Keep in mind that failures do happen and it is perfectly alright to fail once in a while. All you need to do is learn from your past mistakes and failures and keep upgrading your skills as a tester. Happy testing!