Many testing experts have a tendency to place the cart before the horse when it comes to offering software testing advice. They may go on and on about integrations, specific test runs, issues management and other important topics.
Make no mistake: These are all vital aspects of the process. However, success always begins and ends with good test design. Steve Jobs once noted: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” And how it works in quality testing especially depends on good design.
Your team’s test management tool must optimize every aspect of manual testing—defining requirements and risks, planning test runs, analyzing test results, managing related issues and, of course, test design.
If your test management tool is a world-class rock band, the design module is the lead singer. A variety of facets define what makes for good test design. They include:
- A good test design empowers your team to easily reproduce the test and optimize future testing.
- A good test design gives the actual testers the ability to run tests after the design phase.
- A good test design requires forward thinking, keeping the end goal in mind.
- A good test design relies on a management tool that’s “a snap” to organize the tool, while also offering an intuitive interface.
- A good test design must never rely on outdated methods such as Excel spreadsheets. This can clog the process with a host of problems.
- A good test design yields objective results about the usability and functionality of the product.
Once your team commits to a test management tool that fuels high-octane test design output, you’ll see immediate advantages.
1. Streamline Is So Fine
Good test design produces—surprise!—a streamlined testing process, leveraging both intuitive interfaces and a user-friendly process. Whether they’re an end user or a testing professional, your team members know immediately how to record results and understand whether or not to support their tasks with attachments and comments.
Good test design will distribute a personal to-do list of all planned test runs assigned to each end user. Finally, your next-level test design will allow everyone to execute test runs any place any time with no experience required.
A streamlined test design thinks of everything—from defining, designing, planning and executing tests, to tracking results, resolving issues and generating insightful reports.
2. Rocking Reports
A management tool that truly embraces good test design will manufacture rock-star reports with real-time insight into testing status and progress.
Managers will thank you for creating good test design that allows them to track the workload of your entire team’s progress reports for test runs, test cases and issues.
When you keep good test design in the forefront of all you do, users discover it’s never been easier to report findings with an intuitive test registration function. This allows users to report their results within a few minutes.
A word about filtering. Unless your test design allows for powerful filter options for reports, your project is in danger of collapsing under the weight of poor communication. For example, your team should be able to filter based on defined requirements and risks or planned milestones.
Your design should deploy integrated reports that allow your team to easily view traceability, progress and coverage reports, as well as issue reports per status, impact, category, priority or organization.
3. The Good, the Bad and the Buggy
Good test design must transform your management process into the “Sherlock Holmes of bug tracking.” That way, your team discovers those pesky bugs before the end user. Your testing tool, then, should relentlessly track problems and inform your team of status impact at a glance.
Solutions that offer an integrated bug tracking solution will equip managers to handle all problems immediately. In addition, such a solution links with external players: Zapier, Jira, Topdesk, DoneDone, Asana, DevOps or Mantis.
4. The Right Tool Yields Good Design
There’s no substitute for a quality software solution embedded with the philosophy of good test design. That’s why TestMonitor is recognized as an industry leader in manual software testing, offering clients a peak experience in designing, planning, creating and monitoring every vital aspect of the testing process.
Our solutions embrace good test design principles that result in a consistent, streamlined testing process. That, in turn, produces actionable reporting while intuitively tracking bugs and problems.
Don’t just take the word of a humble blog post. Give TestMonitor a test drive yourself with a 14-day, free trial. We’re confident our focus on good test design will jump-start your team’s next amazing project.
