Software Testing Best Practices

As a mobile engineer, I try to break everything I build. Let me explain. One of the most common things I see from junior engineers is that they may only test the "happy path" (Perfect, ideal user flow) But guess what—no user will ever use our apps the way we think they will. There are also real-world environmental differences that affect your app: 📡 Network conditions – slow connections, sudden dropouts 🔒 Permission settings – missing access to camera, location, notifications 📱 Device limitations – low-end hardware, limited memory, battery saver mode 🌍 Localization factors – RTL settings, different fonts, accessibility tools Of course, we can't QA these situations for all of those without some automation But at least try to break your app. 👊 Rapid-fire testing tactics: ✅ Swipe through flows quickly ✅ Tap on the same target multiple times (Do you need a debouncer?) ✅ Background and foreground your app rapidly ✅ Rotate your phone at key moments ✅ Test network interruptions In 5 minutes you can go through this for all your PRs. You may think "in reality this barely happens." Well, when you have billions of users using your app Even if only 0.01% of your users actually face this, that's more users than almost any app's daily active users. Remember: If you don't break it, your users will. #softwaredevelopment #engineering #bestpractices #productdevelopment

Tips for QA engineers 👩💻👀💥🍫 1. Understand the Requirements: Always begin by reading and understanding the project requirements thoroughly. 2. Know the Product: Explore the application like a user to understand its functionality. 3. Ask Questions: Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification on ambiguous requirements. 4. Master Test Case Writing: Write clear, concise, and comprehensive test cases. 5. Focus on Boundary Values: Pay attention to edge cases for input validation. 6. Learn Testing Types: Get hands-on experience with functional, regression, smoke, and sanity testing. 7. Collaborate Effectively: Communicate openly with developers, designers, and product managers. 8. Use Testing Tools: Familiarize yourself with tools like JIRA, ALM, Selenium, and SOAP UI. 9. Document Everything: Maintain clear and organized test documentation for future reference. 10. Be Detail-Oriented: Small errors can have a big impact; always double-check your work. 11. Explore Test Automation: Learn the basics of automation to boost your testing efficiency. 12. Understand Agile and Scrum: Participate actively in daily stand-ups and sprint reviews. 13. Practice SQL Queries: Retrieve and validate test data using basic SQL commands. 14. Learn API Testing: Get comfortable testing REST and SOAP APIs. 15. Focus on UI/UX Testing: Ensure the application is user-friendly and visually appealing. 16. Perform Negative Testing: Test invalid inputs to see how the application handles errors. 17. Test Responsiveness: Check how the application performs on different devices and screen sizes. 18. Develop a Testing Mindset: Always think about what could go wrong. 19. Keep Learning: Stay updated with the latest QA trends, tools, and techniques. 20. Join QA Communities: Network with other testers to share knowledge and experiences. 21. Work on Communication Skills: Clear communication is crucial for reporting bugs effectively. 22. Understand Bug Life Cycle: Learn how bugs are logged, tracked, and resolved. 23. Practice Time Management: Prioritize tasks and meet deadlines effectively. 24. Explore Performance Testing: Learn to test how the application behaves under load. 25. Emphasize Security Testing: Understand basic security testing concepts like SQL injection and XSS. 26. Be Patient: Debugging and re-testing can be time-consuming; stay calm and focused. 27. Learn From Mistakes: Use every bug missed as a learning opportunity. 28. Adapt to Change: Requirements may change; flexibility is key. 29. Gain Domain Knowledge: Understand the industry (e.g., banking, e-commerce) to test effectively. 30. Celebrate Small Wins: Acknowledge your achievements and keep motivating yourself. Remember: QA is not just about finding bugs; it's about improving quality. Keep learning and growing

I shipped 274+ functional tests at Amazon. 10 tips for bulletproof functional testing: 0. Test independence: Each test should be fully isolated. No shared state, no dependencies on other tests outcomes. 1. Data management: Create and clean test data within each test. Never rely on pre-existing data in test environments. 2. Error message: When a test fails, the error message should tell you exactly what went wrong without looking at the code. 3. Stability first: Flaky tests are worse than no tests. Invest time in making tests reliable before adding new ones. 4. Business logic: Test the critical user journeys first. Not every edge case needs a functional test - unit tests exist for that. 5. Test environment: Always have a way to run tests locally. Waiting for CI/CD to catch basic issues is a waste of time. 6. Smart waits: Never use fixed sleep times. Implement smart waits and retries with reasonable timeouts. 7. Maintainability: Keep test code quality as high as production code. Bad test code is a liability, not an asset. 8. Parallel execution: Design tests to run in parallel from day one. Sequential tests won't scale with your codebase. 9. Documentation: Each test should read like documentation. A new team member should understand the feature by reading the test. Remember: 100% test coverage is a vanity metric. 100% confidence in your critical paths is what matters. What's number 10? #softwareengineering #coding #programming

Assign a test owner before the start of coding. The test owner is responsible for the test strategy and accountable for whatever testing the team does. The test strategy is part of ready to start coding, on par with the development designs. Reviewed test results are part of being done, meaning the team performed whatever testing they intend and have had a chance to make a decision based on what they learned. Anybody can be a test owner, who that is will be determined by the team during the transition from planning to coding. Whether it is a dedicated tester, another developer brought in to help, or the same developer writing the code, the team makes an informed decision based on their understanding of risk and nature of the planned work. The test owner describes the test approach in the test strategy. The team will execute on that approach as agreed by the team. The test owner and developer(s) work together to make sure the development plan and testing plan are optimized and work together as much as possible. Where and how testing happens, during unit tests, in test environments, on specialized equipment, via exploratory end-to-end testing sessions, as part of deployment pipelines, or postproduction is all determined and described in the test strategy. The goal of approach is to establish test accountability as part of the core release plan in a way that affects all the engineering decisions and allows a more flexible approach to testing. Rigid processes such as "hand-off to QA" give way to context-driven decisions based on what is being tested and a team assessment of needs and risk. Dogma driven discussions about "who does testing" are eliminated when the testing problem is broken into parts and pieces and work assigned in a manner that fits the work itself. "Throw it over the wall" vanishes as testing works its way into every stage in the process. The key are the simple points in the cartoon: 1) assign a test owner at the start, 2) deliver a test strategy as part of ready to code, 3) reviewed test results are part of done. These three points form an anchor that establish accountability and a point where feedback on what works and what does not can begin correction. #softwaretesting #softwaredevelopment #shiftleftisdeadlonglifeshiftitalloverthefreakinmap

One of the most impactful changes I've seen in quality happens when you implement one specific process: a 30-minute QA-Dev sync meeting for each feature before coding begins to discuss the implementation and testing strategy. When I first bring this up with a client, I get predictable objections: Developers don’t want to "waste" their time. Leadership doesn’t want to "lose" development time. Testing is necessary anyway, so why discuss it? Our QA doesn’t couldn't possibly understand code. The reality is that the impact of effective testing can be remarkably hard for an organization to see. When it goes smoothly, nothing happens — no fires to put out, no production issues. As a result, meetings like this can be difficult for leadership to measure or justify with a clear metric. What confuses me personally is why most engineering leaders say they understand the testing pyramid, yet they often break it in two, essentially creating two separate pyramids. Instead, you should have a collaborative session where QA and Dev discuss the entire testing pyramid — from unit tests to integration and end-to-end tests — to ensure comprehensive and efficient coverage. Talking through what constitutes effective unit and integration tests dramatically affects manual and end-to-end testing. Additionally, I'm continually impressed by how a QA who doesn’t "understand" full-stack development can still call out issues like missing validations, test cases, and edge cases in a method. QA/Devs should also evaluate whether any refactoring is needed, identify potential impacts on existing functionality, and clarify ambiguous requirements early. The outcome is a clear test plan, agreement on automated and manual checks, and a shared understanding that reduces late-stage bugs and improves overall product quality. #quality #testing #software

Before you start pounding the keyboard, take time to think through your test approach and test strategy. A good test approach is to wait to test until you've learned all you can about the stakeholders (who values this product?), the software (what are all the moving parts?) and the tools (how do we test this?). A good test strategy is to wait to test until you've learned all you can about the risks (what is most important), the likelihood of occurrence (what is the happy path and most likely unhappy path?) and value (what do the users, owners and tech teams care about most?). Taking time to do your research, take good notes, meet with stakeholders and analyze the situation from as many angles as possible will save you hours in re-writing and will keep things in perspective. This may annoy those who like to see artifacts, test cases, etc. early on but ultimately you will be more successful as a tester and have a better grasp on the difference between what is important and what looks good. While we want to look good as testers, we don't want to do it at the expense of what really matters. Think, research, then act.