Five Tests You Can't Avoid

Everyone is under pressure nowadays to push out new software and software updates on a regular basis. In today’s competitive tech world, there is very little profit margin, so software companies often have to work on volume in order to reach certain profit levels. This also means efficiency in the time spent on software, without compromising quality.

In the process of being more efficient in development, you may find that the software you are developing may go through some extensive testing under normal circumstances. However, to speed along the process, some tests may be pushed aside and you may focus on just a small palette of tests to conduct to ensure your software is ready to be released.

Here we offer what may be the five tests you really cannot avoid executing in the development phase of the software, no matter what software testing tools are being utilized or other efficiency steps are taken to enhance output.

Performance Testing: Also known as “load” or “stress” testing, performance testing is vital to success of most software. This tests the software’s performance through various loads and stresses, which includes heavy traffic volume, complex transactions and the like, stretching the application beyond its normal capacity to see if and when it fails.

Regression Testing: When there are any changes to the software, regression tests measure the effectiveness of the changes and checks to see if the changes actually affect how another part of the application functions.  As far as regression testing tools go, Time Machine is the tool that enables automation of the date centric test cases. 

System Testing: This is a comprehensive test of the entire system and especially how the software works within the framework and in relation with other applications and memory of a system, plus various browsers. Since you never know where any user is accessing the software, it’s a good idea to ensure the application holds up for everyone and is not discriminatory, so to speak.

Unit Testing: This goes before regression testing, because this involves testing a single unit, segment, or module of the software for efficacy. This helps narrow down possible bugs in the code and isolates them for quicker fixing. Once this is completed, the regression and system testing can check to make sure all the fixes in the individual units make the entire application coherent and consistent.

Usability Testing: For your customers, this is probably the most important test – making sure the software is easy to use and is reliable at the end-user side. If your software is not easy for users to understand and operate, then it doesn’t matter if you have the greatest software since sliced bread.

For much of this testing, timing can be everything. Your software will see various loads at various times of day, and having a quick and efficient way to test your software during all time zones and under varying circumstances is valuable to all you do to have successful software.