_ September 2, 2019_ Lucian Costea

Manual testing — an indispensable testing method. Part 2

In the first part of this article, we spoke about what manual testing means and how we do it, at AROBS. We also know that all the IT companies in Romania work with tester teams, in order to deliver bug-free products to their clients.

We established that it is a process in which the QA Analyst is analyzing the software using the functions and features of an application. Doing so, they use pre-defined test cases based on test scenarios.

To actually do manual testing means to understand the requirements, to write test cases in order to guide you through testing the software and to log bugs. A very important aspect that has to be remembered about the test cases is that they have to be accurate, economical, traceable, repeatable and reusable.

The second part of the article is about the need for manual testing.

Why should we do manual testing?

The human perspective. Because humans use the software, therefore, humans should be involved in testing it. The tester puts himself in an end-user position, so is more likely to find and solve any usability issues and allows him to understand the problem at an emotional or conceptual level. In user experience, there is no replacement for the human eye.

Bugs can be found where you least expect them. While doing it manually, it allows the tester to find bugs even if they don’t necessarily look for them. This is a very important aspect, considering that automation testing can’t find a defect if it wasn’t programmed to do so.

Automated tests can contain errors and you can’t always rely on them. It is true that they can save time with repetitive jobs. Also, automation may be too expensive for small projects. But for large projects and big products, the higher costs can be worth it. It is a great opportunity for continual checking progress but not enough.

Even though it requires a lot amount of work, manual testing is absolutely necessary in software development. It is important to have a good user experience and a high-level quality, all leading to positive customer experience.

The last topic will be about following a career in manual testing, so stay tuned for more!

In the meantime, do you think that a career in this specialization suits you? Join our team of testers.