Questions tagged [manual-testing]

Can also be described as "interactive testing" - used for any question involving testing performed by humans or with human intervention.

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How should a Software Tester deal with missed Defects/bugs in Production?

I work as a QA/test engineer in a small software company. It is an e-commerce based product. I was assigned a few projects by my manager. I mostly do functional/blackbox testing. Before the production ...
mark234's user avatar
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48 votes
16 answers
15k views

Can a Manual Tester survive in software industry without learning Automation?

I mean to say is that if I dislike coding and don't understand complex code, then will I be able to survive as a QA. Or do I need to learn test automation to grow position and pay in my career, as I ...
erik339's user avatar
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44 votes
12 answers
9k views

What should Testers do if they are not able to find good defects in the product?

I work as manual/black-box tester. My responsibility primarily includes functional testing of a web application and to some extent database testing using sql server, based on the functional ...
user avatar
42 votes
6 answers
10k views

If a problem only occurs randomly once in every N times on average, how many tests do I have to perform to be certain that it's now fixed?

I know that you can never be 100% sure, but is there a method to determine an appropriate number of tests?
Sam Hall's user avatar
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36 votes
26 answers
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Should Testers first discuss a bug with the developers before writing a bug report?

In my previous project, whenever the QA team used to find bugs/defects, they used to communicate the problem/issue to the developer sitting next to them, verbally. In this approach, most of the time, ...
buggy778's user avatar
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36 votes
9 answers
32k views

How to write a test plan

I am new to "Test Plan Writing" and I want to learn how to write test plan. As a beginner, what do I need to understand and learn first to write quality/effective test plan? What would you suggest?
QA4it's user avatar
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33 votes
15 answers
13k views

What's the difference between a good test and a bad test?

Please don't burn me for this simple question. I know, it may be very simple but for me it's complicated. "A Good Test" or "A Bad Test" - every tester comes across these two terms. Sometimes it ...
Nitin Rastogi's user avatar
33 votes
12 answers
8k views

How to explain the concept of test automation to a team that only knows manual testing?

I have been working as a QA in our 9 developer team for about a year. Had lots of 'firsts' within the year between personal and professional life. I replaced a QA who only did manual testing and ...
Marj's user avatar
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32 votes
11 answers
8k views

Why do many jobs describe automation but then require extensive manual testing?

The question somewhat stems from frustration after seeing recent trends in software testing jobs: In Job Description, automation skills are given utmost priority. All the interview rounds will be ...
Shivam Mishra's user avatar
31 votes
17 answers
10k views

Typical software & tools short-list for *manual* QA specialist (tester) working environment

For QA workstations preparation (Windows-based PCs) our IT department uses typical batch deployment tools. I'm not at all interested in the details of such process, but IT guys ask me: What typical ...
Peter L.'s user avatar
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29 votes
10 answers
9k views

How can developers be assured that their software is fault free?

For example when creating software for critical real time applications, like those used in aviation, how certain are you that it's going to run without problems? Are you 100% certain or are you >90% ...
microwth's user avatar
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29 votes
13 answers
17k views

When writing manual test cases and scripts, how much detail is too much detail when documenting the steps?

One of the things that I try to balance when writing out test scripts for manual testing is trusting that the person executing the test (which may not always be me) is reasonably competent to know how ...
TristaanOgre's user avatar
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28 votes
8 answers
4k views

What should a Software Tester do to become more valuable and helpful for the Development Team?

When I write detailed defect descriptions or bug reports, then my team's Development manager feels satisfied. What are few things a blackbox tester can do to help the Developers become more productive ...
user avatar
26 votes
10 answers
11k views

What if the software is so buggy it can't really be tested at all?

I know the best bet in this situation is for the testers to go through the process of reporting blocking-type problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical bugs. Since, this type of ...
Bharat Mane's user avatar
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25 votes
8 answers
1k views

How to deal with automation naysayers?

In my team, there are a number of experienced QA people. I work mostly on developing tools to make the QA process easier for these guys, such as developing test automation. The uptake has been slow, ...
Jimmy Collins's user avatar
24 votes
13 answers
4k views

Does simply running the code during development mean 'Testing'?

I'm a reasonably inexperienced developer, and I recently got into a debate with the manager of our current project. It's a concept demonstration for trial funded internally by our company. After ...
Joe's user avatar
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24 votes
7 answers
4k views

How can I be sure that rarely reproduced issue is fixed?

I have a bug that is rarely reproduced, in about 1 case out of 5 attempts (20% reproducibility). Developers made a new version with the fix. How many times do I need to run a test to be sure that the ...
nick_gabpe's user avatar
24 votes
15 answers
4k views

Capture screen during exploratory testing

While doing exploratory testing it would be nice to be able to record the screen (in a non-intrusive way), so if a defect is found the steps to reproduce it can be easily reviewed. Are there any good ...
Tester101's user avatar
  • 491
24 votes
6 answers
5k views

Is software testing different when we are dealing with game development?

I was reading this paper about the differences between software development in general and game development and the authors made some good points regarding software testing, pointing out, for instance,...
Ronnie Edson's user avatar
23 votes
16 answers
6k views

Manual testing is better than Automation testing. Is that true?

With manual testing, you don't need to buy software automation tools or write scripts. Automated tests are robotic and don’t necessarily act as a real would user. On the other hand, manual testing ...
Kaushal Patel's user avatar
23 votes
13 answers
4k views

What benefit does having developer experience or background have on the effectiveness of a tester?

One thing that I've benefited from in my testing career is that I do have some knowledge of software development coding methods and concepts. While I probably could not code my way out of a paper bag ...
TristaanOgre's user avatar
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23 votes
7 answers
3k views

Does automating your manual tests give you good automated tests?

I notice that the tag wiki for the "automated testing" tag contains the following sentence: "Commonly, test automation involves automating a manual process already in place that uses a formalized ...
testerab's user avatar
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22 votes
17 answers
5k views

Is it important to know manual testing before learning test automation?

Is it important to know manual testing before starting to learn how to do test automation? Test automation is a part of testing activity, so obviously you need to be aware of testing concepts and ...
Bharat Mane's user avatar
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22 votes
4 answers
7k views

One of my team members executed security test without any consent

One of my team members, when deployed at a customer's site, executed a password attack against the customer's database. As a result, this customer's database was locked down for 30 minutes. Now ...
oscar's user avatar
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22 votes
7 answers
4k views

How to report a bug that has no technical solution?

When we were testing a project, which would require an Excel sheet as an input. The only validating mechanism of this whole file importing process was offered by Excel macro (validate against inputs' ...
oscar's user avatar
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22 votes
7 answers
3k views

Transition from all manual testing to automated testing

Right now my company only does manual testing. We've talked about starting some automated testing for a while but it hasn't taken off at all. It seems like automated testing would be a good way to ...
Andrew Shipe's user avatar
21 votes
8 answers
10k views

What are general tips to test a static website?

One of the NGO which work for the children welfare ask me to test their website. That's a completely static website on the single page simple navigation toward the section so I need general tips to ...
Nitin Rastogi's user avatar
20 votes
8 answers
4k views

What is the difference between sanity and smoke testing?

When there is a new build we perform smoke testing,in few projects they call it as sanity testing. Can someone please elaborate on the difference between the both?
likitha's user avatar
  • 309
20 votes
6 answers
6k views

What would be the strategy when too many bugs are found in the final round of testing?

The QA team starts testing a software/product and there are “way too many” defects…! Every other scenario is failing, new flows are explored & clarifications sought. What would be the strategy now?...
Bharat Mane's user avatar
  • 6,785
20 votes
9 answers
12k views

How can a Software Tester use "Out of the Box" thinking approach to find more bugs?

Well, I am a black-box tester and I don't think out of the box. I just think about happy paths, thus I want to improve. I always read that testers should have great critical, analytical skills and ...
Eddy's user avatar
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19 votes
14 answers
4k views

Should bugs found by exploratory test methods be taken against QA?

Should "unplanned" test cases be taken against QA's metrics in the organisation? For context: there is an established process during the development life cycle where the development team and ...
user14479's user avatar
  • 191
19 votes
5 answers
4k views

Is it good practice to write unit tests when features are changed frequently?

Should I write the unit test cases for a frequently changing product? For example: I start the project with Phase 1 (say it's 6 months long) and I know there will be a phase 2 (3-4 months or more) ...
Sahil's user avatar
  • 291
18 votes
10 answers
5k views

Can we replace everything with automation or do we need manual testing? [duplicate]

I have seen arguments that we should automate all our tests, and I have seen arguments that manual testing is necessary. I don't know which one to believe. Is it even possible to automate all tests? ...
user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
4k views

Testing a web application that sends activation link to newly added users

I have to add new users in a web application. Users need valid email addresses and users are activated by clicking activation link sent to their emails. As I have to add dozens of users so I cannot ...
Abdullah's user avatar
  • 235
18 votes
9 answers
735 views

How to obtain "fresh mind" results?

I noticed that when you start on a project with a beginner mind (for that particular product) you have a fresh approach and start noticing a lot of bugs. After a while and some experience with that ...
Eduard Florinescu's user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
5k views

Why do medium to large companies not adopt test automation?

Is test automation simply not a right fit for some medium/large organisations, regardless of whether they "care" or not and assuming it can be applied there? What are the most common reasons for this? ...
raven's user avatar
  • 221
17 votes
8 answers
56k views

Difference between requirement, use case, and scenario?

I've taken a class on software testing best practices and test design. In the content, they have a model that basically shows that the three items are derived in this way: Requirements > Use case &...
Jarvis Frost's user avatar
17 votes
9 answers
6k views

Gamification in software testing

Is there a place for gamification in software testing? Could it be made as a part of a regular testing process and could it have a positive impact on productivity and quality? I've been thinking ...
alecxe's user avatar
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17 votes
6 answers
18k views

How should a tester deal with a bug found in production?

In my previous project, I was working as a black-box/manual tester. My major responsibilities were performing function testing, executing regression suites, running smoke tests etc. I was testing a ...
user avatar
17 votes
5 answers
8k views

What is the Real Business Value of Software Testing in an IT Project?

I work as a manual tester on a big project. My project follows Agile methodology. I test a Web-based application. I sometimes ask myself, am I giving any value to the stakeholders? What is the Real ...
tech95's user avatar
  • 171
16 votes
12 answers
7k views

Do we use/need test cases in Agile?

In our organization, we are implementing Agile. Right now, we start with the test as soon as we receive stories and never go for the test cases. We test the stories on the basis of acceptance criteria....
Keshav's user avatar
  • 890
16 votes
6 answers
3k views

How can I isolate bugs of users that we are not able to replicate?

I am having a recurring problem where bugs are cropping up once or twice in a build, and are reported by users but I and my team are not able to replicate them. What techniques do you use to ...
bobo2000's user avatar
  • 261
16 votes
5 answers
9k views

Testing in Open Source Projects

This is a bit of a general question. I'm trying to practice my testing skills and perhaps get some better experience with manual testing mature applications. In particular, I'm interested in desktop ...
joshin4colours's user avatar
15 votes
8 answers
53k views

What is a good KPI for software QA?

How can you measure the efficiency of the QA team? What KPIs would you set up?
viam0Zah's user avatar
  • 251
15 votes
6 answers
57k views

How do you test a backend API?

I was applying for QA position and the SDET asked me this question: How do you test a backend API? In the interview. I wasn't sure I answered it correctly. Just wondering if I can get some input ...
Aziz's user avatar
  • 161
15 votes
7 answers
2k views

The test team as an enemy of development? And how can this be avoided?

Details Forming a Scrum team should include all the skills necessary to develop a user story in order to deliver a potentially deliverable product increment with each sprint. In traditional ...
Mornon's user avatar
  • 1,107
15 votes
10 answers
25k views

Should username/login ID be case-sensitive?

I need to know what is the standard rule for creating username/login ID. Should it be case-sensitive? If I have successfully created three accounts (user2, useR2, USER2), should I consider this a bug?
Muhammad Ali Khamis's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
11k views

Is Selenium the right tool for browser compatibility testing?

I have been seeing a lot of customers pushing for browser compatibility testing using Selenium. Was wondering whether this is really necessary. The push is mostly due to Selenium grid supporting multi ...
A.J's user avatar
  • 791
14 votes
7 answers
5k views

When can we say a product is stable?

From a tester's point of view when do we say that a product is stable? Is the product still stable when it contains a known bug?
sameer joshi's user avatar
14 votes
5 answers
4k views

What to do when a bug is fixed, unfixed and fixed

A blocker bug I raised last week had been fixed and ready for re-testing. This morning, I re-tested it, it passed and subsequently closed. In the afternoon, by accident, I noticed this feature was ...
oscar's user avatar
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