Quality assurance always starts with manual testing. It’s critical to estimate software from an end user’s perspective, interacting with all features in person. Through manual testing services, we’ll find potential issues early and help you spend less effort on fixing and customer support.
Our specialists become full-fledged members of the clients’ teams soon after they join the projects. Each QA expert is as dedicated to your goals as you are. Our average retention on the QA software testing project is 3.5 years. Many clients have been working with our dedicated QA experts far more than that, and many choose to return with their new projects.
Manual QA testing, also known as manual software testing or manual quality assurance testing, is crucial in software development. Testers inspect applications manually, identifying defects and ensuring the software meets requirements. It involves various techniques such as exploratory testing, regression testing, and usability testing to assess the software’s performance, functionality, and user experience. Manual QA testers play a vital role in validating software behavior, providing valuable feedback to developers, and ensuring the overall quality and reliability of the product.
Testing – manual testing, in particular – explores various aspects of the product’s functionality and performance. From functional and UI to acceptance and regression, we seek the ultimate combination of manual QA testing activities that will work best specifically for your software. Here are a few types of manual testing you’ll need to pinpoint bugs in new features, ensure consistent performance across different devices, and validate readiness for production.
QA Madness helps tech companies strengthen their in-house teams by staffing dedicated manual and automated testing experts.
Manual testing of software is applied where human touch is indispensable. There are scenarios where it is more efficient than automated testing or is the only reasonable option at all. Knowing when to use manual testing in software allows teams to build a comprehensive strategy, revealing the maximum potential of manual QA. So, what are the cases where QA manual software testing services work best?
There’s an ongoing debate regarding software testing: manual vs automation. The latter has many advantages, but human expertise is essential to meet the dynamic challenges of software development. Manual QA engineers can add precision, bring in the perspective only a human can see, and communicate subjective ideas regarding improvements that work excellently for quality improvement. Don’t neglect the features that are central to the manual testing in QA.
There are aspects and scenarios where automation doesn’t work well or makes no sense. Among other things, these include checking the software’s logic, screen actions, CAPTCHA, and various visual elements.
It is easier to create and maintain documentation that covers manual testing. Changes and updates are a usual story, especially for young projects. With automation, rework is more complicated and expensive.
Manual testing closely mimics the real-user behavior of mobile, web, and other apps. It can handle cases that are difficult to reproduce with automation and leaves enough room for spontaneous scenarios and bug discovery.
With manual testing, you can get more accurate results and detailed feedback on the software interface and user experience. Software’s feel, convenience, and the emotions it causes during the interaction play the central role here.
Manual testing is a quick way to reproduce bugs reported by software users. Even if the test case covering this problem is automated later, the first attempt to reproduce it and the following change-related tests can only be manual.
Manual testing is more efficient for small and short-term projects that don’t plan to scale much. As a rule, using various types of manual testing provides enough feedback on quality and fits well within the timelines and budget.
Manual quality assurance testing by QA Madness covers a variety of industries and software technologies. The team has a strong focus on detail and a commitment to quality. It brings forth a nuanced understanding of the unique challenges your product may encounter. On top of that, we have a large bank of physical devices to cover a sufficient user audience.
Our team has vast experience with different types of software and business domains. We can offer a blend of expertise, technology, and talent to suit your demand perfectly. We understand the value of quality, its effect on business performance, and the role of each team member in it. We don’t just run tests to find the defects. Our service package includes clear communication, detailed reporting, complete immersion in all your processes, and proactiveness.
We offer a full set of manual QA testing services aligned with ISO and ISTQB standards. The QA specialists have experience with various platforms, technologies, software types, and projects from diverse industries.
Our team comprises 81% of Middle and Senior QA Engineers. Each has undergone a rigorous check during hiring. Each possesses a solid understanding of testing theory and practice, along with the necessary soft skills.
We always select QA specialists based on the type of project, its tech stack, and the industry. You can request an ISTQB-certified expert, a part-time QA engineer, a dedicated team, etc., and be sure to get what you need.
We assure a swift start within one to three days, attention to detail, and timely, accurate testing results. There are also plenty of engagement models to choose from to match your current demand and easily scale in the future.
Our manual software testing services deliver the outcomes you seek via customized expert selection, valuable insights, and deadline commitment. And as clients report, QA Madness provides excellent value for money.
The security and integrity of your QA workflow are paramount. We prioritize client privacy and intellectual property. The team adheres to security norms and standards, with a specialized focus on software cybersecurity.
Quality Assurance Setup and Testing for Mobile Gaming & NFT Platform
The client was looking for a QA engineer with experience in mobile testing and knowledge of the gaming industry. They had a new and custom platform and needed to set up the QA process from scratch: define the coverage, prepare documentation, and integrate testing into the workflow.
QA Process Setup and Testing for the Meeting Platform
The product was live, but the QA process was chaotic – without a clear flow or software testing specialists involved. The client sought an external audit and process setup so that other team members wouldn’t have to test the platform and severe defects wouldn’t slip to production.
Quick QA Team Scaling for Supply Chain Software Company
The company needed to expand its QA department rapidly during hypergrowth. They had high standards regarding the candidate requirements and an extensive list of responsibilities for the new team members. The main challenge was getting the right expertise while scaling quickly and smoothly.
Full-time QA Support for the Marketing Platform Providear
The QA team joined a few months into the development. The platform was new and developed from scratch. Thus, it required thorough analysis at all test levels and vast coverage. The team worked under frequently changing requirements and needed to adjust the testing strategy accordingly.
Testing Process Setup for the Cancer Research Software
The client develops innovative desktop software products in the healthcare domain. The QA engineers tested two of their projects – software that operates the laboratory devices. The company needed vast test coverage and consistent documentation standardized by their rules.
Testing of the Cloud-Based E-Commerce Solution
The company created a shipping storefront solution – a custom product that hasn’t been tested yet. The scope of tasks for QA engineers, in addition to running tests, included close analysis and the creation of a detailed functional checklist that would suit the first and subsequent test iteration.
QA Madness helps tech companies strengthen their in-house teams by staffing dedicated manual and automated testing experts.
Each project is unique, and so is each manual testing process process. But despite the necessary adjustments, there’s a set order of activities that makes up QA manual testing. All software products go through the five phases.
Planning is the foundation of our manual software testing services.
It includes defining objectives, scope, and timelines, resource allocation, and describing it all in the corresponding document – test plan. The goal of planning is to establish a framework for the following testing activities and ensure they align with other teams’ work, the project goals, and the client’s expectations.
Planning involves a close analysis of project requirements. It is necessary to determine sufficient coverage and set realistic timelines. It also accounts for product and process-related risks. During planning, the QA team prepares a strategic roadmap – a software testing manual for this project – to guarantee stability and flexibility along the way.
QA engineers develop test scenarios, cases, and checklists.
The QA specialists are already familiar with the product, requirements, and roadmap. Based on this, they create more “software testing manuals” – detailed instructions on what to test in the form of test cases and checklists. They also prepare test data and gather requirements for the testing environments.
The purpose of the design phase is to set the stage for effective test execution. It’s critical to have scenarios and infrastructure that suit specifically the project in question. This phase of manual testing QA focuses on creating conditions that authentically mirror real-world usage to generate accurate feedback.
The implementation stage marks the start of test execution.
QA engineers follow the instructions in the test cases or checklist prepared during earlier stages. Their task is identifying defects – any deviations from expected behavior described in the project documentation. The results of quality assurance manual testing are gathered in detailed bug reports.
Interaction with the software makes up the essence of the implementation stage. QA specialists provide valuable insights into the product’s functionality and performance under real-world usage conditions. In addition to reporting apparent malfunctions, QA experts can share other suggestions for quality improvement.
During stabilization, the team works on defect resolution.
The focus shifts to refining the software and enhancing its stability and reliability. It involves debugging, retesting, and ensuring that the software meets the set quality standards. Stabilization prepares the product for launch. It also sets the stage for test automation.
At this stage, QA engineers focus primarily on change-related testing. Besides verifying the recent fixes, it’s necessary to ensure that code iterations didn’t affect other functionality, which is a frequent case. Finally, QA experts also verify that the software meets acceptance criteria and is ready for release.
The software is ready to go live and reach real users.
The well-developed and thoroughly tested software is presented to stakeholders. This phase also includes comprehensive reporting on the testing process and results. QA engineers share final recommendations on quality. These are the last steps of preparation for the official release that is about to happen.
QA experts provide clients with a seamlessly functioning software product that meets their expectations and is ready for deployment. The Delivery phase completes the manual testing process. If the team works in sprints, the new version of the software for manual testing appears very few weeks, and the cycle starts over again.
“QA Madness has established a smooth workflow through effective communication. The team is trustworthy, efficient, and hardworking.”
CTO at BRKFST
Jon Lopinot
“Thanks to QA Madness’s efforts, we are able to resolve technical issues and keep our platforms optimized and bug-free.”
CEO at Dexter Agency
Marc Uitterhoeve
“QA Madness was seriously professional. They listened to our needs and gave us the kind of work we expected. As a result of their efforts, we can locate a bug in the test environment, which prevents issues from entering production. I would recommend them, 100%.”
COO at Bitbull Srl
Alessandro Ronchi
"They’ve always been very professional, prompt, and available when we needed them. We’ve never had any issues or needed to go back and teach them how to meet our standards."
VP at Isadora Agency
Alex Mathias
"QA Madness has significantly reduced the number of bugs and issues in our final products. They’ve also improved our internal processes."
Co-founder of Wezz E-Commerce
Jordi Dekker
"QA Madness generated extensive feedback that developers normally can’t see. We could never have gained this insight without their thorough functionality testing services. I appreciated how quickly they conducted testing despite the high volume of work it entails."
CEO at SupportDesk
Wouter Den Otter
"They are an extremely valuable part of our extended team, and I couldn’t ask for more from a project management standpoint. QA Madness team is extremely professional when it comes to sticking to estimates, scopes, and quotes."
Co-founder of Above The Fray Design, Inc.
Noah Oken-Berg
Get the answers to the general questions that will help you understand the essence of software testing – manual testing – better. Here, you can find brief explanations of the manual testing concept, how it works, and why it is critical for companies. If you have more specific questions regarding QA services, cooperation, domain expertise, and other work-related aspects, don’t hesitate to contact our team for clarification.
ISTQB doesn’t have a separate manual testing definition. It explains software testing as “a set of activities to discover defects and evaluate the quality of software artifacts.” So, what is manual testing?
It is a process of interacting with software in person to find defects, using one’s hands and head to detect potential issues. In manual software testing, a QA engineer gets the role of an end user who intentionally evaluates its functionality, performance, and usability. The task is to ensure that all features work as intended and, if not, point out what requires fixing.
QA engineers look into various aspects of the software: input validation, functionality, performance, integration with other systems, and so on. Manual QA is especially effective in scenarios that require human intuition, creativity, and adaptability.
While automated testing can be more efficient for repetitive and time-consuming tasks, manual testing in software remains crucial for certain purposes where human touch changes the picture. It ensures that software meets user expectations and behaves correctly in real-world situations.
A test case is a detailed set of instructions or steps that a QA engineer follows to verify whether a specific feature or aspect of a software application is functioning correctly. Each test case is designed to check a particular scenario, functionality, or requirement and validate that the software behaves as intended – as planned initially and stated in the requirements. If it doesn’t, a QA engineer identifies the defect and informs developers about it.
A typical test case includes the following components:
Test case ID – a unique identifier.
Summary – a brief description of this particular check.
Preconditions – actions to perform before executing steps, e.g. logging in.
Steps – a list of actions required for feature/aspect verification.
Postconditions – actions to complete to return the system to the initial state.
Expected result – anticipated outcome, the behavior per requirements.
Actual result – actual outcome observed by a QA engineer.
Status – summarising the result: Pass/Fail/Blocked.
This structure can vary based on the feature complexity and team practices. ID, Summary, Steps, Expected Result, and Actual Result are mandatory. The rest of the fields are optional.
Manual testing in software testing will always remain important. It is the cornerstone of quality assurance: QA always starts with getting familiar with software and executing manual QA tests. In addition, manual testing has some unique advantages compared to automated testing.
It can start early in development, long before the software is fully functional. As a result, any code changes will be less expensive and time-consuming.
It focuses on evaluating software from the end user’s perspective. This includes estimating how easily users can navigate the app, interact with its features, complete target actions, etc.
It is more adaptable to changes in requirements and functionalities. QA engineers can easily modify test cases to accommodate the changes.
It allows QA engineers to apply human judgment and intuition. Knowledge, experience, and creativity are always beneficial in simulating real-world scenarios.
It is critical for evaluating the user interface and overall user experience as they deal with intuitiveness, accessibility, and aesthetics.
The importance of manual testing is usually communicated in contrast with automation. The latter is efficient for repetitive and large-scale testing but doesn’t substitute software manual testing services. Despite all the benefits of automation, manual testing is still a more universal, far-reaching, and straightforward means of ensuring product quality.
Manual testing is a structured and systematic process that requires special training and corresponding certifications. A QA engineer should be familiar with testing theory, methodology, different types of manual testing, kinds of software, etc.
To start the testing process, QA experts must clearly understand the project requirements and software specifications. It is essential for writing good test documentation and ensuring sufficient coverage.
QA engineers write test cases or checklists. They serve as the guidelines, a QA testing manual on how to interact with the product and on what flows to check.
QA specialists also set up the testing environment with the necessary software configurations, hardware settings, and other elements essential for executing the test cases.
Then, QA engineers execute tests, note distinctions between the expected and actual outcomes, and provide detailed reports of their findings.
After the reported defects are fixed, QA engineers retest the features in question to verify the fixes. They also run several other change-related checks to make sure that code changes didn’t affect the rest of the functionality.
If the team works in sprints, documentation writing, testing, reporting, and repeated checks make a cycle that aligns with the sprint start and end dates. Throughout the manual testing process, effective communication with other teams is crucial. Only a collaborative approach can ensure efficient defect resolution and quality improvement.
There are over a dozen types of manual software testing. They are distinguished based on the specific aspects of software products they address. More generally, there is functional and non-functional testing. Each type of manual testing falls under one or the other, and only some can combine the aspects of both groups.
Functional testing focuses on verifying that the software works according to specified requirements. It includes, among others:
Functional testing
UI testing
Integration testing
Smoke testing
Regression testing
Interoperability testing
Localization testing
Acceptance testing
Nonfunctional testing assesses aspects other than functionality, such as performance, usability, reliability, and scalability. It includes, among others:
Compatibility testing
Accessibility testing
Compliance testing
Documentation testing
Performance testing
Security testing
Usability testing
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