Checklist for software application testing

Here are some points from my experience which will help you to improve your day-to-day testing activities.

1. Try to achieve maximum test coverage each time.
2. Break the application in smaller modules to achive maximum test coverage.
3. Always try to find the root cause and solution of failed test case.
4. Think positive. Start testing the application by intend of finding bugs/errors. Don’t think that there will not be any bugs in the application. If you test the application by intention of finding bugs you will definitely succeed to find those subtle bugs also.
5. Write your test cases in requirement analysis and design phase itself so you can ensure all the requirements are testable.
6. While writing test cases, write test cases for intended functionality first i.e. for valid conditions according to requirements. Then write test cases for invalid conditions. This will cover expected as well unexpected behavior of application under test.
7. Group your test cases for regression testing. This will ensure quick and effective manual regression testing.
8. Make your test cases available to developers prior to coding. Let developers analyze your test cases thoroughly to develop quality application. This will also save the re-work time.
9. Tester should not force developers to release the product for testing. Let them (developers) take their own time. Everyone from lead to manger know when the module/update is released for testing and they can estimate the testing time accordingly. This is a typical situation in agile project environment.
10. Performance testing is the critical part of many applications. In manual testing this is mostly ignored part by testers due to lack of required performance testing large data volume. Find out ways to test your application for performance.
11. Go beyond requirement testing. Test application for what it is not supposed to do.
12. Note down the new terms, concepts you learn,testing progress, observations while testing in notepad. These notepad observations will helpful while preparing final test release report.
13. Module-wise bug graph can be useful to predict the most probable bug part of the application while doing regression testing.
14. Do not keep any thing verbal. make sure to communicate the requierment, resolve any disputes over written communication ways like emails.
15. It’s a good practice to involve testers right from software requirement and design phase. These way testers can get knowledge of application dependability resulting in detailed test coverage. If you are not being asked to be part of this development cycle then make request to your lead or manager to involve your testing team in all decision making processes or meetings.
16. Keep developers away from test environment. Some times developers do some system or application configuration changes but forget to mention those in deployment steps. If developers don’t have access to testing environment they will not do any such changes accidentally on test environment and these missing things can be captured at the right place.
17. Increase your conversation with developers to know more about the product. Whenever possible make face-to-face communication for resolving disputes quickly and to avoid any misunderstandings.
18. Testing teams should share best testing practices, experience with other teams in their organization.
19. Prioritize your testing work from high to low priority and plan your work accordingly. Analyze all associated risks to prioritize your work.
20. Write clear, descriptive, unambiguous bug report. Do not only provide the bug symptoms but also provide the effect of the bug and all possible solutions.