Does Your Startup Need Software Testing?

According to fresh Statista estimations, in 2012 testing and quality assurance consumed 18% of IT companies’ budgets, and now this index has reached 40%. Actually, it’s great that companies understand the importance of software testing. However, that process is usually smooth for established companies that can afford quality testing. But what should startups do — the brand-new, small companies often acting in conditions of uncertainties and lack of funds? Should startups go through testing?

To Test or Not To Test: That Is the Question

Whatever you might think, the answer is quite unambiguous: YES.

Any company, be it young or old, big or small, should test their product. Good quality is impossible without testing, and good quality is what both enterprises and startups are seeking — the first retain customers, and the latter gain them.

Startuppers often say they can’t afford to test. In reality, not to test is a recipe for disaster. Economizing in the beginning, you may lose so much in the end. So, it is wiser to say that you can’t afford NOT to test your startup.

In practice, the defects that are found at the stage of post-product release may cost 30 times more than the ones found at early design and architecture stages. Thus, it is highly important to discover defects as early as possible.

The major goals and objectives of software testing:

• Finding defects that prevent the program from operating smoothly
• Preventing defects
• Assessing the level of a product’s quality and informing the stakeholders
• Making sure the final results correspond to business specifications and user requirements
• Boosting profit potential
• Gaining the customer’s loyalty by offering them a quality product

Types of Software Testing

Testing can be manual and automatic. Both of these approaches are widely used and are paramount for the creation of a high-functional and robust application.

Automated testing is performed by the automated program algorithms that repeat preset actions. In this way, the program compares expected and actual outcomes and gives signals of possible defects’ presence.

Manual testing presupposes that developers/testers manually check the software, comparing the expected and actual results and detecting issues. Testers use the application simulating the real end users’ behavior, watching how it is working from their side.

Using both manual and automatic testing at once is great, but if we choose one of them, it is wise to think about the type of the enterprise we deal with. Established businesses often opt for automatic testing, and startups are recommended to use manual testing. Why so? This is conditioned by the peculiarities of each approach.

Pros and Cons of Automated Testing and Manual Testing

Automated Testing

Pros:

• It is fast
• No human factor mistakes
• A profound and thorough check
• Possibility to reuse the tests after some part of the code is added to the program

Cons:

• More time for planning and set-up
• Usually more expensive
• No or limited possibility to receive feedback on UI (e.g., it can’t test image color or font size)
• The need to spend resources on keeping the tests up to date

Automated testing is perfect for:

• Enterprises
• Time-consuming tasks
• Tasks that imply frequent updates and changes
• Tasks that imply repetitions
• Testing complicated applications
• Testing load and software performance
• Large-scale projects with many users

Manual Testing

Pros:

• It is an easy and straightforward way to ensure the product’s quality
• It helps to save money
• It touches upon UI testing
• It is flexible and adjusted to real users’ vision

Cons:

• It is less accurate (man is prone to error)
• May be very monotonous and boring for the tester
• Some tasks are very difficult to be checked manually (e.g., testing of low-level interface regression)
• It requires the tester’s undivided attention. During running automated tests a person can perform other tasks.

Manual testing is perfect for:

• Startups
• Short-term projects
• Small and medium-sized projects
• Checking user interface aspects
• Testing MVPs and startups at the initial stage of their development
• Situations that require human perception

A Startup Strategy: Tips for Effective Software Testing

1. Create MVP

Seize an opportunity of building a minimum viable product for your startup — the simplified version of your future application with the minimal amount of features that are enough to satisfy customers’ initial needs. Creating an MVP will provide you with precious feedback from the customers and will give you an opportunity to estimate how it works and what should be fixed and advanced. MVP helps you save your money and time on development; besides, you will sustain far fewer losses in case the project fails.

2. Engage everyone

If you can afford to hire a dedicated tester — good for you! However, not many startups turn to such practice for good reasons. What to do then? To get everyone involved in testing. Every member of a team — developers, sales managers, business analytics etc. — can contribute to testing endeavors. It’s fine for startups to multi-task and cooperate within adjacent areas. You need to forget the titles and positions and concentrate on your common goal — to create a superb product.

3. Focus on risk areas

Usually, some parts of a software system are made better, and some worse. If you are approaching a tight deadline, you can’t have it both ways and polish every single piece of code. You need to prioritize and eliminate errors in vulnerable areas by means of functional testing.

Why Is Software Testing So Important for a Startup?

Since you are at the first set-out of your business’ development, you need to be especially maneuverable and sage to cope with enormous competition. The way to success is paved by the quality you render to your customers, and it is not possible without proper QA and testing. While at the early stages of your product’s development its value to customers was a primary criterion, further product evolution requires reliability and robustness. These are achieved through a timely and appropriate testing strategy, which minimizes company’s risks and boosts its profit potential.

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