Software Testing Archives

10 Skills Every Software Tester Should Master

Posted on August 22, 2017November 6, 2019 by admin

Software testing is a procedure performed by a software tester to execute either a computer program or application with an aim to find and fix the software bugs. Software testing can also be understood as the process that validates and verifies either of the software program, application or product.

Being software testing one of the most crucial things, it is very imperative that every software tester should possess specific technical skills and in some, they need to excel. What are those skills?

These are some of the most valuable 10 skills that every software tester should master

Testers don’t like to break things; they like to dispel the illusion that things work. — Kaner, Bach, Pettichord

1. Awareness of SDLC skills

Most of the project stakeholders possess a false impression that SDLC (software development life cycle) is a project management methodology. In fact, SDLC is a framework that defines tasks to be performed at each stage of software development process.

For software testers and quality analysts, it is advisable to learn product lifecycle management abilities. Such learning will enable them to comprehend the application improvement undertakings and plan testing cycles effectively. In-and-out information of SDLC will also help the quality analyst to suspect complexities in the application which can control in taking the correct measures in advance.

With this, software testers should also grasp a few development methodologies that pertain to SDLC. To name a few, those methodologies are Scrum, Agile, Waterfall, and V-shaped model among others.

2. Attentiveness to STLC skills

STLC is an abbreviation of software testing lifecycle. Software testers have an important role to perform in the Product Testing Life Cycle, which is also called STLC.

STLC is a grouping of exercises carried out by the team of software testers from the starting point of the project to the completion of the project. Programming Testing Life Cycle is a procedure to improve the overall quality of the product. STLC comprises of various steps such as analysis of requirement, in a grouping, test planning, developing test case, setting up an environment, executing tests, and closing test cycle. At each of the STLC stage, procedures are carried out in a planned and systematic manner to get done a decent quality product.

3. Knowledge of various Bug Reporting Tools (Testing Tools & Techniques)

Bug reporting being one of the core responsibilities, it is essential for every software tester to have knowledge and awareness of different testing techniques and application of testing tools. Testing is not responsible for the bugs inserted into software any more than the sun is responsible for creating dust in the air. — Dorothy Graham

Regardless of the domain and type of application, the acquaintance of various testing types likes white box testing, black box testing, security testing, system testing, unit testing, and others make testers versatile. Also, it helps them work on any sort of project. Moreover, a large number of bug reporting tools are available in the market such as bug tracking tools, test management tools, GUI testing tools, automation tools and similar others. Hence, it is also important for quality analysts to get the knack of these tools so that they can serve diverse requirements and complexities of the project.

4. Well-versed with Techniques of Automation

Automation does not do what testers used to do unless one ignores most things a tester really does. Automated testing is useful for extending the reach of the testers’ work, not to replace it. – James Bach

With the increasing complexities and integrations in the application, relying on manual testing alone cannot get the job done. For testing browser compatibility, performance, headless as well as database and integration layers, testers should learn automation skills since it imparts higher accuracy because of the business logic and technicalities it can serve. In addition, there are several test automation tools that dedicatedly support particular testing type and come with features to get the tasks done quickly and efficiently.

5. Excellent communication skills

Excellent communication skills are the key to succeed in any field, on any platform. A software tester is also not an exception here. Every tester should also possess good communication skills. Here, effective communication skills refer to good writing, speaking, listening, and reading skills. Quality analysts should communicate effectively with stakeholders at all stages, e.g. updating the status of the project to the clients, informing about requirements to the team, passing on issues to the developers, translating specification documents to test cases, and preparing reports for the management. Over and above, good communication helps to demonstrate a high degree of comprehension which further assists in conveying insights and providing feedback to both technical and non-technical people, logically and rationally.

6. Outstanding Logical and Analytical Thinking skills

Definitely, this is one of the essential requisites of a software tester. In most of the practical scenarios, software tester identifies a considerable amount of the bugs with rationales connected with the code. In such scenarios, analytical thinking ensures that you are capable of thinking out of the box. It should result in the creation of various test cases. Logical thinking helps you understand all Dos and Don’ts when you test as an end client and apply a broad range of prospects you can consider. Your analytical skills and logical thinking can create situations that help you rapidly make your product strong.

7. Top-notch Project Management skills

In any job, apart from core technical skills, one also needs to own time management and project management skills. Similarly, only possessing testing skills will not be sufficient for a software tester in the long run.

As a quality analyst, you should have great learning and thorough understanding of the business process and overall project details. Strong problem-solving skills and top-notch project management tactics will assist you when the going is tough. Besides, having in-depth programming talent will provide you with growth in testing at the code level. If you possess excellent knowledge of the code structure, your contribution to the development team will be significant. You will be able to come up with bugs that will be very useful for the overall software or product.

8. Updated with the latest Web & Mobile Technologies

If you are a software tester, apart from above skills, you should also get updated with the latest web and portable innovations. Then only you will be able to comprehend the sort of use, its built and scalability, and apply a suitable course of action for its testing.

Each and every software tester should keep a tab on both the web and mobile technology advancements. The technological advancements lead them to figure out the coding style and technical challenges to deliver effective QA solutions.

9. Sharp Decision-making skills

Perhaps, this is one of the most fundamental soft skills for any software tester. In most of the scenarios, a large portion of the bugs is identified with basis connected in the code. As ironic as it seems, the challenge of a tester is to test as little as possible. Test Less but Test Smarter – Federico Toledo

Analytical thinking and related decision-making skills ensure that you are capable of thinking out of the box. These skills will help break up a complex software system into smaller units to get a superior understanding and create test cases. Analytical skills and related decision-making talent of a software tester should result in the formation of different test cases.

Logical judgment plays a fundamental role when you test as an end-user and relate all sorts of probabilities you can think of. Creating situations which help in making the product strong can be done quicker by the software tester who possesses strong decision-making skills.

10. Self-explanatory and high-quality Reporting skills

Last, but not least! An ideal software tester must also own good reporting skills. High-quality reporting skills aid to provide the precise status of the test project and application under test to stakeholders. The practice of high-quality and self-explanatory reporting leads to overall better project test coordination.

In addition, it gives transparency to the top management regarding test cases executed; bug encountered; release timelines; and others that in due course lead to take the right decisions on time.

Closing thoughts

Being a software tester, the above-mentioned skills are desirable in you. Testing is a continuous process which runs throughout the product development lifecycle and even posts product development too. No doubt, there is always room for improvement in almost all products. However, if you possess the best qualities and top-notch skills of a software tester, you can for sure come up with the best possible product.

How To Develop A Winning CRO Testing Roadmap

Posted on April 3, 2017November 6, 2019 by admin

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice which boosts the proportion of your website visitors who perform a preferred action on your website. Primarily, it is website optimization so that larger chunk of your traffic finds it illuminating and performs your desired action.

Need for CRO testing roadmap

A number of variables need to be tested in order to achieve your conversion goal. These variables include:

Opt-in form placement, design, and draft
Opt-in bribe (or lead magnet)
CTA (“call to action”) color and copy

Testing such variables might lead you to cash on short-term success like increasing CTR to your landing page. However, to enjoy long-term and sustained success, you need to focus on CRO testing roadmap. These long-term goals include increasing MRR. Consequently, it is must to test CRO roadmap. This is because as a business it helps you to move from tactical testing to strategic testing. Based on positive results, you can optimize your focused areas of website. Moreover, it improves organizational resource planning.

According to Emma Travis, Senior Optimization Strategist at PRWD, having a testing roadmap “helps to communicate to the wider business what the ‘plan’ is.”

The major paybacks of developing a roadmap are better alignment of teams with brand visions and strategic goals. It sharps your testing in conjunction with the widespread organization and how you accomplish your goals.

The broad reasons why you need to develop a winning CRO testing roadmap includes the following:

1. Optimize resource planning

Few areas you need to decide based on your requirements, though trial and error may require. Such areas include hiring resources over outsourcing. Content writer, web designer, developer, and other vital resources can either be hired for temporary or full time basis. Considering costs and benefits, you may opt for outsourcing the same tasks. However, to decide – hire or outsource, a roadmap helps you know exactly when to hire resources for maximum impact. For example, if your roadmap reveals that you will not be testing copy till the next quarter, you can postpone on hiring a copywriter. Such tests if performed timely and wisely can save you from over-hiring and under-hiring. Ultimately, improves targeted results and your outcome.

2. Focus on strategic goals over tactical goals

In order to achieve strategic goals, one definitely needs to achieve tactical and operational goals. All long-term strategy should be wisely segmented into tactical and operational strategies. However, it does not mean that you should divert your mindset and only focus on operational or tactical goals. For example, if your tactical goal is to increase CTR by 40% and you achieve it as well. Still, it remains your short-term success only. This is because “increasing CTR” is a tactical objective, not a strategic business goal. You may see a drastic improvement in your CTR but is possible that you end up losing on revenue. It improves a specific, remote metric (CTR) without considering long-term goals. Here, a testing roadmap fundamentally outlines these tactical goals in outlook. You know precisely how short-term, tactical goals merge with long-term strategic goals.

3. Prioritize tests

Here, you may pick up any sample page of the website, say product/service page. On this page, you may run a number of tests. Such tests include:

adding “Zoom” element,
appending a size, fit and flex rating,
detailing UGC (“user-generated content”) of product images,
attaching “Customer Q&A”,
making CTA button even more prominent

4. Perform more complex tests

Often, a user restricts him with simple tests including changing font, page colour, button colour, or even tweaking a headline. Possibly, one can make the modifications in coding as well. These changes are fairly easy to work out. On the other hand, more complex tests require a number of resources working together to run the test. In larger organizations, even a team of the tester is required to sign-off on a complex test prior to running it. Such changes include modifying checkout page design to focus on free shipping, tweaking pricing table, and others.

Again, here, a testing roadmap can let you know precisely whom you need to bring on the project. For example, if you need the designer team to sign-off on a checkout page design test, you can employ them at the appropriate time.

5. Line up the rest of your business with your vision and mission

Last but not the least, especially for larger businesses, alignment of resources with organizational vision and mission is must. CRO repeatedly requires a huge amount of modifications to your business, website, and sometimes, even your business model. Undoubtedly, a testing roadmap ensures that your entire business has perceptibility into these developments.

Do Not Miss: to Read About Important How to Optimize Landing Page to Improve Conversions

How to construct a CRO Testing Roadmap

Construction of CRO testing roadmap is a subjective matter since it differs from business to business and industry to industry…

Moreover, the field of CRO has yet not fully evolved. In spite of the availability of numerous frameworks, most of the consultants use their own customized approaches to develop a testing roadmap. Experts suggest the following simple steps construct your own CRO testing roadmap:

1. Clarification of business vision and mission

As a business, it is imperative to establish your business goal. Importantly, goals need to be SMART i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and tangible. With reference to CRO testing roadmap, you need to have consent on how the goal is measured. It should be noted that goals relate to business and industry and could be completely different from one business to others. For an e-commerce company, a goal could be “reduce shopping cart abandonment,” while for a SaaS startup, it could be “reduce churn rate.”

Your business goal would be the course of action behind every test you run. Any test that does not help meet your goal in some way should not be run.

2. Drill down strategic goals to meet the business goal

Your business goal needs to be drilled down to the level of your strategic goal. For instance, if your e-commerce business goal is to “improve the shopping cart acceptation rate”, your strategic goals could be:

Augment checkout completion rate
Boost product prices
Enhance cart recovery email conversion rate

Enlisting such strategic goals with the help of various mind-mapping tools will ease your process of developing CRO testing roadmap.

3. Collate tactical goals to accomplish strategic goals

You need to achieve your tactical goals to accomplish your strategic goals. For example, suppose you own a digital marketing firm, your strategic goals and tactical goals could be as follows:

These tactical goals form the foundation of your testing idea brainstorming session.

4. Document on hand performance and set a baseline

Prior to moving towards brainstorming testing ideas, you need to set a baseline for your existing performance. It means you need to conduct a CRO audit to understand the areas which need either attention or improvement. At least, for your online business, you should be aware of the bounce rate, primary CTA & CTR, and exit rate. Such statistics should be noted down on the excel sheet or any other convenient application.

For example:

5. Devise testing thoughts

Once you reach till the previous step, your next suggested move is to come up with ideas to meet each of your tactical goals. These ideas should be accurate and precise. For example, be clear if you want to change CTA copy on your product page or you want to change the design and look of your product page. Each goal should be tested using various mind mapping tools. In case your tactical goal is to attach social proof on your product and services page, you might come up with solutions such as:

Demonstrate live purchases in numeric terms
Provide Klout / Moz score
Attach testimonials

6. Prioritize tests

Now it is time to identify which tests to run first. Experts suggest the following two approaches for the same.

Resource-first approach	Under this approach, first of all, a user takes stock of existing resources and identify which tests could be run with them. For example, if you have an in-house designer, you can prioritize testing product page and thank you page prior to testing other elements.
Results-first approach	Under this approach, first of all, a user prioritize the tests based on desired results and accordingly arrange resources.

Regardless of the approach that is being considered, the following two areas need to be measured:

Simplicity of execution	This measures how easy the test would be to put into practice. It is based on existing organizational resources, the capability to acquire future resources and technical complexity of the test.
Impact	This measures what is the expected impact of the test on your target metric. It is based on historical data, case studies of similar industries, and test target

Once this data is in place, you can use a colour-coded scale (Red = high priority, Green = low priority) to denote the priority.

7. Build up your testing hypothesis

A hypothesis is an assumption made from facts that serve as the starting point for any experiment or examination. Every flourishing A/B test typically has a hypothesis associated with it. This hypothesis has three components:

Assumption: what is assumed is true on the basis of past experience and available data
Experiment: what is being experimented is focused on a single variable and is logically consistent with the assumption
Expected outcome: need not to be precise but should be able to reveal the expected trend

For example, the assumption is CTR for the button given on the website is low since it is not prominently placed. It can be experimented by modifying the size, style, or colour of that button to test its impact. The results of the experiment could be measurable like changing CTR button resulted in a 2% lift in conversion rates.

8. Collate all in one place

In case, you have successfully travelled across the above-mentioned seven points, you would have a strategic goal, various tactics to accomplish that strategic goal and prioritized testing thoughts for each of those tactical goals. Now it is the perfect and right time for you to collate them into a testing roadmap.

At the very least, you should note the following:

Apart from the above-mentioned checkpoints, you can also consider your baseline and target for the metric you are testing (such as CTR or bounce rate).

For ease of data and derived information, it is advisable to note all of this in a separate spreadsheet at the end of your exercise. It is worthwhile to keep this document practically open-ended and flexible.

9. Plan your tests

Once the entire data is filled up in your spreadsheet along with testing ideas, it would be easy for you to implement CRO testing roadmap.

Now you know how to devise a winning CRO testing roadmap. For your online business, you now need to run a CRO audit, list your strategic and tactical goals, prioritize tests based on execution ease and at last, RUN the test!