Developers are putting all their efforts to build the logic and create the system which meets the requirement but end results are not as positive as you expect them to be. There are few features in the application which results in crashing or the frontend is having some issues. It clearly means that this is the time to get the tester on board and that person has some duties which need to be carried out instantly to ensure smooth workflow.
A tester is responsible to figure out bugs and defects from the system and report them. Despite being an expert in the job, a developer may come up with issues that need to be identified timely so that functionalities of the system are not compromised. A tester needs to have a certain skill set to carry out the job and perform it in an absolute way. They also have to update themselves with the latest software so that they can incorporate them to make work manageable and save time too. Most of the testers prefer to use test case management software rather than carrying out the job in the traditional way through excel sheets. Below mentioned are a few tasks that are part of every tester’s routine.
Coordinate with team
Most of the companies are working around the Agile framework which means all teams work together simultaneously to get the job done. Testers need to coordinate with the team on daily basis to stay on the same page regarding software development and the functionalities or the program being developed. Some companies use tools for this purpose as it makes communication easy and location-independent while some provide the same physical location so that discussion can be promoted.
The team also has meetings at the end of the day or week to discuss the progress of work. Meetings and timely transparent communication is the key to the success of any task. The more conveniently expectations and issues are discussed, the more useful information can be shared among team members which will help testers to find the bugs and developers to fix it.
Test Planning
Testers need to work in a way that they plan their testing activities way ahead so that their work is not affected by time limitation. They divide their tasks in such a way that they are always ahead of the project. The scope of the testing along with the activities is described at this point. Following are the attributes a test plan includes around which testers need to work.
- Test goals
- Test objectives
- Features which should be tested
- Test levels which should be tested
- Exit criteria
- Roles and responsibilities
- Milestones
- Deliverables
Test Reporting
Testers need to create reports regarding the activities they perform and share them with the team so that they can know the performance of the software. There are different ways to create reports too, at this point testers as well as organizations prefer to use automated tools for this purpose as it saves time and generates reports in real-time.
With these tools, the entire team can access reports the moment they are created and share their feedback simultaneously too. These reports act as a tool through which management can make calculative decisions and expect favorable results. Finding and fixing errors is the initial part of the process but these reports need to be timely communicated to the management to carry out the future activities. Reports can be generated through a test case management software.
The following are the points which a tester needs to report:
- What was tested and its results.
- Critical issues which were identified
- Test cases need to be tested.
- Any roadblock in the testing process
Track Metrics
Testers need to measure the progress of the testing being performed and how well it is achieved. Through test metrics, the quality, and health of the software can be analyzed. It is the quantitative measure and its goal is to help the team to make better decisions in order to deliver the quality product in a timely manner. These are really important as it helps you to take calculated decisions for the next phase, also these metrics act as proof around which meeting and discussions can be built.
Wrap Up
A job of a software tester is becoming challenging with each passing day. There are rare chances that they will have the same nature of work every day, but there are few set of tasks that needs to be carried out repeatedly. Above mentioned are the few basic and important activities which testers need to perform. Having the right set of tools and skillset can help them to perform the job in an ideal way.
