Believe it or not, developing bug-free applications is just a myth. As companies struggle to meet faster deadlines with quality being at the forefront in the modern digital world, it is more likely for QA teams to miss out on issues/bugs in a software application. Most of the app crashes and system failures are caused by bugs and sometimes fixing these bugs is much more expensive and daunting than writing new code. A defect tracking software aids software testing teams in making the defect management process more effective and efficient.
Over the passage of years, the way firms develop and test software has changed dramatically. Moving from traditional to DevOps environments, development and QA teams are expected to develop and deliver faster in less time. QA teams need to amp up their testing processes to enable businesses to deliver faster, decrease time-to-market, and maintain product quality. To meet user expectations, firms require faster updates, bug-fixes, and feature enhancements to their favorite products. So it is important for organizations to understand the bug management process and create a testing plan that results in low costs and time spent on product development.
Bugs can leak during any state in the production phase, which leads to increased costs and time, losing potential clients, and compromising brand reputation. Although QA teams take proactive measures and use a bug management tool, they might miss some bugs. Following are a few reasons why QA teams miss bugs and how to prevent them:
Meeting Project Delivery Deadlines
Testing teams are under immense pressure to meet their project deadlines and send software into production as soon as possible. They are required to complete their testing processes in less time or in some cases, even skip some test cases. It is more likely for QA testers to overlook critical bugs in the process and this is how they miss out on some important bugs that have an impact on the performance of an application.
How to Address this?
Some projects have tight release deadlines and testing cannot be ignored, or performed in a rush. When such a situation appears when teams have less time, they should communicate with management to reduce the tests and highlight all the risks involved. Clearly define testing cycles that can be performed within the given time limit. Make sure they highlight the risks associated with testing that they will not be performing by using test management tools.
Inadequate Requirement Specifications
Typically, a bug management tool ensures that bugs are wiped out at the beginning of projects. But due to inadequate information in the requirement specification, testers may fail to cover all use case scenarios which eventually testers may fail to examine.
Solution:
QA testers should prepare a comprehensive requirement document that covers all the test case scenarios to ensure they test all the cases and provide a bug fix before moving to the final stages of production.
Critical Bugs left Undetected
We know the role of testers in an effective bug management process. Often, bugs appear right in front of them but testers tend to miss them due to their focus on other areas. This also happens when testers check a feature upgrade repeatedly to ensure it functions properly.
How to Avoid it?
Testers need to be on their toes when it comes to bug-detection. Besides being a multi-tasker, a tester should use different techniques when testing the same feature again in order to avoid failures. This helps in the early detection of bugs and issues.
Bugs Detected but not Reported
When there is a lot on the plate for testers, they tend to identify bugs but delay in reporting in a bug management tool and getting them fixed. While focusing on other bugs, these bugs remain unreported due to which they have to face consequences later in the development process. It causes a delay in the bug management process and these bugs might even be missed. On the other hand, sometimes testers fail to address a bug due to underestimating its severity.
Solution:
As testers have defect tracking software to amp up their testing processes, they should never delay reporting bugs whether they are major or minute ones. They should immediately report a bug in order to avoid failures in the future.
Insufficient Test Coverage
We know that defect tracking is a tricky process and it requires a lot of effort to identify them. While organizations adopt more digital solutions, the complexity of software apps increases that gives birth to hidden bugs/defects. Testing teams often fail to provide sufficient test coverage due to which bugs remain undetected and cause problems after release. This can result in a bad reputation for a business.
How to Deal with this Issue?
Well, in the presence of a defect tracking software, defects should never cause a delay in a product release. To ensure timely release, it is important that testers realize the importance of reporting even the smallest bug in an application. They need to have proper test coverage and should consider all possible test cases, from an end user’s perspective.
It is true to say that bug management tools are developed to support QA teams. However, there are scenarios where these tools may not be as effective as they are expected to be. Human intervention cannot be replaced with automation testing and teams cannot rely on automated bug detection for all software projects. The above pitfalls in a bug management process can be avoided with the help of the solutions explained. However, teams need to work in close collaboration to ensure that bugs are detected and resolved before releasing products into the market.
