All types of software testing have some aspects that cannot be tested without manual intervention. Only 5% of companies have fully automated testing.
During manual testing, the tester operates like a real user and tries to cover the maximum product features and find bugs. QA specialist looks for flaws in visuals, functionality, and software logic and checks its reliability and usability. QA describes all the bugs found in a bug report that developers will use to fix them.
Key Takeaways on Manual Testing
Comprehensive Testing Approach: Manual testing covers various aspects such as usability, user experience, compatibility, security, and localisation, ensuring thorough evaluation of software quality.
Testing Process Steps: From requirements study to defect logging and regression testing, manual testing follows a structured process to identify and rectify issues effectively.
Types of Testing Reports: Manual testing reports include defect logs, qualitative data, and bug reports, providing valuable insights for developers and stakeholders.
Best Practices: Clarity in instructions, continuous analysis, and focusing on usability and performance are essential best practices for manual testing services.
Testing Examples: Examples of manual testing formats include unit testing, end-to-end testing, and user acceptance testing, each serving specific purposes in ensuring software quality.
Advantages of Manual Testing: Manual testing offers greater flexibility, provides quality information about the application's design, lacks environmental constraints, enables usability testing, and yields deeper insights for companies.
Testing Methods: White box, black box, and grey box testing methods offer different levels of access to source code and information, catering to various stages of development.
Tools for Manual Testing: Tools like JIRA, LoadRunner, SonarQube, Trac, and NUnit aid in managing testing processes and generating performance data for manual testing.
Role of Manual Testing: Despite automation, manual testing remains crucial for detecting non-standard problems, evaluating aesthetics and user convenience, and providing unique benefits that automated testing cannot fully achieve.
Career Outlook: Manual testing continues to be an integral part of the QA process, offering stable demand and growth opportunities for skilled testers in the software development industry.
What do we do with manual tests?
Manual tests investigate several different aspects of software:
Usability UI: to provide a user-friendly, intuitive, and aesthetically pleasing interface.
User Experience UX: evaluate user experience, including ease of navigation, satisfaction, and engagement.
Compatibility testing: test software performance across browsers, devices, and operating systems.
Exploratory testing: investigates the software to detect bugs or unexpected behaviour without predefined test cases.
Security testing: test encryption methods and evaluate data protection measures.
Localisation and internationalisation: ensure the software works correctly in different languages and regions, respecting local formats for dates, currencies, and other location-specific elements.
These aspects of manual testing are essential to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the software's quality, functionality, and user satisfaction.
What are the steps of manual QA testing services?
Requirements Study: The tester examines functional and non-functional software requirements to identify what needs testing.
Test Plan Creation: A test plan outlining testing scope, risks, resources, and timelines is developed from the requirements.
Test Case Development: Test scenarios detailing user actions and expected outcomes are crafted based on the plan.
Test Execution: The tester manually runs these scenarios to check software functionality.
Defect Logging: Any discrepancies found are logged in a bug-tracking system.
Retesting and Regression: Tests are rerun post-fixes to ensure issues are resolved, and regression testing ensures no new problems have arisen.
Types of Manual Testing Reports
Defect Log: This is a list of problems encountered during testing.
Qualitative data: Manual testers provide verbal and written feedback, focusing on how users interact with the software.
Bug reports: These reports help developers quickly identify the causes of problems and take the necessary steps to resolve them.
Clarity: Clear instructions, clear results, and an understanding of the application requirements reduce miscommunication and help focus on the right areas.
Continuous analysis: Regular review of the testing process, test cases, and software ensures high quality and productivity.
Not just finding bugs: Manual testing goes beyond finding bugs; it also includes usability and application performance, which is a key goal.
Examples of Manual Testing
There are several examples of manual testing that you should consider learning more about how the manual testing process works. Some examples of manual testing formats include:
Unit Testing: Testing individual program modules to ensure they are working correctly.
End-to-end testing: The process involves testing the entire application, opening it, and running all functions. Manual end-to-end testing allows you to see how all application parts interact and ensures correct operation at later stages.
User Acceptance Testing: The final stage involves giving potential customers access to the product and leaving feedback. Manual acceptance testing provides an external view of the product, which is especially important for video games and other products.
Advantages of Manual Software Testing Services
Some of the advantages of using manual testing in a company include:
Greater flexibility: Manual testing lets you detect non-standard problems and adapt quickly without changing code.
Quality information: Testers can provide quality feedback about the application's design and structure, which is difficult to do by automated means.
Lack of environmental constraints: Manual testing does not have the rigid constraints of a platform, which provides more flexibility in choosing a testing environment.
Conducting usability testing: Manual testing allows you to evaluate an app's user-friendliness and compare it with competitors, which automation cannot do.
Implementing manual testing gives companies deeper insights and helps them make adjustments that make the app more competitive.
What Black, White, and Grey Boxes are Used in Manual Software Testing Services?
These are the names of testing methods. Let's break down each approach in more detail.
White Box Testing: Testers have access to source code, which is useful in the stages of development.
Black box testing: Testers cannot see the code used in the latter stages of development to assess user-friendliness.
Grey Box Testing: A combination of "black" and "white" box testing provides some information to see the causes of problems but maintains limitations for testers, promoting intuitive testing in the stages of development.
Tools for Manual Testing Services
Some of the best free manual testing tools available for QA teams:
JIRA: This tool allows you to create bug tickets and manage priorities.
LoadRunner: Helps in performance testing by generating detailed performance data and categorising the causes of problems.
SonarQube: Supports different programming languages and tracks changes over time, reducing manual data entry.
Trac: Project management tool with review history and ticket management system to simplify troubleshooting.
NUnit: An open-source tool that supports data-driven tests and provides access to quantitative data after manual tests are completed.
Will Manual QA Testing Services Replace Autotests?
Although employers are interested in specialists who can automate processes, QA engineers are still expected to have experience in manual testing. Why is this skill so important?
Automatic tests do not detect all errors. They are not perfect. Manual testing is more flexible in this respect. A live QA can develop non-standard user scenarios and evaluate the aesthetic side of the service and the purely human criterion of convenience.
Autotests can be left to routine operations, searching for typical errors, and load testing. Manual testing is suitable for more creative and complex tasks requiring a human eye.
Conclusion
Despite automation, manual testing continues to be an integral part of the QA process. It provides unique benefits that are difficult to achieve with automated testing and remains in demand in the software development industry. For those interested in exploring or building a career in this field, the outlook remains encouraging as the demand for skilled testers remains stable and offers opportunities for growth and development.
Besides, there are many tried-and-tested ways of testing that can help manual testers improve their skills.
