Being a Quality Analyst, it's our responsibility to run test cycles on the system and push releases every two weeks to ensure the system is updated with the latest fixes and everything is bug free on the live platform. Usually, every release includes amendments as well as fixes done. If we talk about the resources, the team typically has 8-10 resources, including developers and the QA team.
Therefore, we should always be proactive about every release and avoid any stress during the release. Everything has to be managed properly when it comes to execution from the development end or testing from the QA end. For that purpose, we have to follow proper strategies to ensure that everything is getting tested and the release we approve met the expected quality standards.
Break away from the conventional roles and obligations of QA
We have penetrated limits in two ways. In this day and age, we are a client confronting unit, as we get with our clients straightforwardly about their issues which they experience over the software or what are the highlights which they need to join on the stage. Also, we are actively participating in the design discussions or any inputs required from our end, which we receive from the client's end, to make sure we are going in the right direction as per the client's vision. Our testing experience always helps detect any flaw or defects before doing any coding work, which reduces additional efforts and minimizes the work. This way, we can ensure everything is done based on the client's given timeline and a quality outcome.
Opt for releases very carefully
As it's impractical to test everything each time at whatever point you push any delivery. For that reason, you need to focus on the piece of code that has been chipped away. This way, you can test the primary work component without postponing things and afterward run a total test cycle to ensure no other part has been clashed by the changes. For this reason, there is a new delivery check with the group of what piece of code has been refreshed and what are the results, and generally center around that part to run tests. This way, you can focus on the work and endeavors which should be put.
We center around those pieces of the code and utilize existing computerization tests to deal with different parts. If you realize something worked in the final delivery and you're not contacting it in this delivery, at that point, you don't have to invest an excessive amount of time in testing. So base your delivery standards on the new code that is being added.
Always have a proper plan based on priorities
QA has to make sure that whatever work needs to be done is appropriately prioritized. For example, if particular area of a platform is not affecting things much and can be taken care at later stage then it should be on the lowest priority; If less than one percent of our users are on a particular browser, issues specific to that browser stand out enough to be noticed. And the area which is affecting the whole system should be done on the very first priority. There should be priorities defined like – Blocker, Emergency, Highest, High, Normal, and Low! So always work as per the critical attention on a specific feature and consider the target user demands. What is their feedback or issues to which they want to have access? If something moved beyond clients and we find bugs, we need to fix them in the following release.
Always make sure to have proper environments ready!
You will often hear from the development team that, "…. It works fine with me; there must be some network issue or system issue on your end". We have to make sure not to have such conflicts in between because, in the end, our goal has to be – Delivering bug free solution!
For that purpose, Our QA and development teams run their tests in the same environment. As our builds move through the development pipeline, we should test the code under the production environment to build our staging environment to simulate our customer's production environments.
Set up a dedicated performance testing team
Always plan to arrange a dedicated performance team who can run tests as soon as a product is steady and tell the team about new versions and requirements to evaluate the performance risks.
To update performance teams with all the latest information and provide them with an environment close to production as you can. To make sure that there shouldn't be any gaps between and can appropriately test the product.
Run a regression cycle
QA team runs regression tests in the last phase of the product cycle, and it is that process that confirms the product delivery. If any of the regression tests fail, QA informs the managers/stakeholders so that appropriate actions can be taken for further release as it's never acceptable to deliver the product if any of the tests fail, which might end up in more significant problems for the team as well as the client. So the QA team always makes sure to run regression tests to verify everything properly. We additionally automate our regression cycle, so it just requires a couple of days to run.
Production environment testing on customer accounts is necessary
As we maintain customer data in our database collections, we need to guarantee that it should remain attuned with any new versions that have been released or about to release. Whenever we release a new version, we run several updates to check that no data was harmed, and in case we find any data-corrupting bugs, those become our highest priority. We also perform manual backward compatibility testing while taking steps towards finding an automated and more efficient approach. Nonetheless, it would be best to do some manual testing, as this is one of the last stages before production.
Sanity testing on production environment
We perform post-release sanity tests on our production account to authorize that everything works as projected, including all third-party systems. We initially perform tests utilizing our existing production account but then create a new account to check that the process will continue to work correctly as new customers register.
Conclusion
The best testing practices should inculcate all other processes in general and risk management processes in particular in them. The focus should be to improve the software's overall quality while aiming to reduce the cost with continuous monitoring during and after the software release. While doing quality assurance testing, the tester should comply with all the fundamental principles and industry practices and look at the product from the end user's perspective.
