If you are working in an agile environment, you may have come across the term ‘code review’. It is a strategic operation where you break the source code into snippets in order to audit the code before it moves to the testing phase.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_Code_Review">1 What is Code Review?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_are_Code_Reviews_Important">2 Why are Code Reviews Important?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_Benefits_of_Code_Reviews">3 What are the Benefits of Code Reviews?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_Disadvantages_of_Code_Reviews">4 What are the Disadvantages of Code Reviews?</a></li><li><a href="#Role_of_a_Software_Tester_in_Code_Reviews">5 Role of a Software Tester in Code Reviews</a></li><li><a href="#4_Different_Code_Review_Approaches">6 4 Different Code Review Approaches</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">7 Conclusion</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions_FAQs">8 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_Code_Review_in_SDLC">8.1 What is Code Review in SDLC?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_Code_Review_Tools">8.2 What are Code Review Tools?</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_a_Good_Code_Review">8.3 What is a Good Code Review?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-is-code-review">What is Code Review?</h2>



Short definition: It is a two-way communication between a coder and a reviewer. The agenda is to learn from one another, understand the application, detect bugs, and ensure that the code follows quality standards.



Long definition: It is a quality assurance process in which a tester analyzes the source code of the application under review. You can either perform this manually or with the help of automated tools. The process ensures that bug detection and resolution happen early to give the best possible code quality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="why-are-code-reviews-important">Why are Code Reviews Important?</h2>



You may wonder why you would need code review when you have a <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/test-planning/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testing plan</a> in place.



Following are the key benefits that will enable you to understand the importance:



1. Find More Bugs: It lets you detect bugs at the primary stages of development. As a result, you save a lot of hours and effort during testing. True is the fact that automation testing will help you do the same thing. However, a human perspective is sometimes necessary to find and fix logical errors.



2. Stay Agile: Given the strict quality guidelines and timelines we need to work in, you must have, or would soon be adhering to, the agile methodologies. This means you need to deliver the best results while meeting the cost and time constraints. With code review, you can create bug-free prototypes and share them with the stakeholders.



3. Quality Compliance: It let you abide by the predefined coding rules and standards.



4. Collaboration: Frequent review sessions will bring out the best in your developers and testers. Team members can discover their peer’s strengths and also assist them in improvements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-are-the-benefits-of-code-reviews">What are the Benefits of Code Reviews?</h2>



When you think about it, it is just another set of eyes looking for possible human error. But for just one benefit, is it advisable to spend time and more resources on this practice?



Well, here are a few benefits :



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Identifying code issues early</li><li>Ensuring to comply with standard code regulations</li><li>Increasing software security</li><li>Implementing a consistent design and development process</li><li>Improving team collaboration and cohesion</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-are-the-disadvantages-of-code-reviews">What are the Disadvantages of Code Reviews?</h2>



With every advantage comes a few disadvantages that you must know about. Only looking at the benefits and deciding on starting code reviews will do your business more bad than good. If you don’t prepare your team to tackle the issues related to code review, they are more likely to stay oblivious to the problems.



Know about the disadvantages here:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Time and resource constraints</li><li>Not every developer consists of knowledge about every project</li><li>Not necessary for every feature or simple applications</li><li>You cannot do a code review when developing a prototype product.</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-role-of-a-software-tester-in-code-reviews">Role of a Software Tester in Code Reviews</h2>



A software tester might find the code a bit intimidating in the beginning. It is best to pair up with an experienced developer for code reviewing. Gradually, when the tester is able to identify the patterns and business logic, things start making sense eventually.



It enables the testers to understand the core functionalities of the project and share their wisdom to resolve the bottlenecks.



Here are a few tried-and-tested ways by which you can begin your code-reviewing experience:



1. Synchronous Review: An informal review where the developer stands next to the reviewer.



2. Asynchronous review: Specialized tools are used to review the code.



3. Instant Review: Developer and reviewer pair-up on a single system.



4. Once-a-while: Developer shares the code with the reviewers who meet and discuss the updates.



As a software tester, you would ask the following questions during your code reviewing session:



1. How was this code written?



2. Are there any patterns used for coding?



3. Is the code easy to understand?



4. Are there any logic errors?



5. Is the code secure?



6. Is the log file for debugging available?



7. Are there any third-party integrations?



8. Are <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/unit-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unit tests</a> included?



9. What amendments are being made?



The best part is that you don’t have to be an expert in order to take part in a code review session. You can review a code even if you are at the basic level of coding. What would be your role? You need to see what changes have been made to ask questions.



Before you dive in, get used to the process by initiating with minimal changes.&nbsp; Understand more about them and when you doubt any change, add your comments and question the coder. Given the benefits, you would want to include code reviewing as one of the key phases of the process. This will ensure that you deliver a quality product that adds value to your end-users.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="4-different-code-review-approaches">4 Different Code Review Approaches</h2>



Get to know about different approaches in detail.



Formal 



It&#8217;s based on a formal process where testers follow a structured process to find issues in the code. It is also used to find design defects.



Under formal review, one of the most popular adoptions is the Fagan inspection. It follows a six-step process: Planning, Overview, Preparation, Inspection Meeting, Rework, and Follow-up. This holds the basic idea of defining output requirements for each of the steps mentioned. And while executing the process, you check each step&#8217;s output and compare it to the expected output. Subsequently, you decide to move on to the next step if the current step is working properly.



Lightweight 



These reviews are mostly followed by developers, not testers, when they are reviewing a code that is not life-threatening in nature, I.e., it does not impact the software quality to a great extent.



There are four types of lightweight reviews:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Instant code review or pair programming</li><li>Synchronous or over-the-shoulder code review</li><li>Asynchronous or tool-assisted code review</li><li>Code review once in a while or meeting-based code review</li></ul>



We have discussed these four types above.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



If review is done right, can prove to be an effective way to share knowledge and understand your application. With time and experience, you will eventually start realizing the patterns, know more about the nuts and bolts of the codebase, and have a comprehensive perspective of the application.



Just like code reviews, tests are also reviewed. Manual test cases can be reviewed by peers, developers, and managers. Similarly, automated test cases can be reviewed too. Sometimes, the processes for reviews of automated test cases are the same as that for code reviews, as automation may also be done via code. You can also read more here on <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-convert-manual-test-cases-into-automated-test-cases-and-why/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">how to convert manual test cases to automated ones</a>.



<a href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma, a cloud-based test automation tool</a>, has also simplified the process of test reviews. In addition, it also simplifies the process of test automation. Thus, in test automation and reviews – non-technical members of the team can be involved too.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="frequently-asked-questions-faqs">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-is-code-review-in-sdlc">What is Code Review in SDLC?</h3>



In SDLC it is a critical part that attempts to identify and resolve code issues before the testing phase. It involves going through the developer’s code to find mistakes and fix them before moving on to testing the application.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-are-code-review-tools">What are Code Review Tools?</h3>



A code review tool is usually an online tool that integrates seamlessly with Engineering Workflow Management source control and work items. It offers you the capability to add output to your work items to present it to your team and stakeholders.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-is-a-good-code-review">What is a Good Code Review?</h3>



It observes all the code changes and looks at the reasons why this happened. It is clear and does not overlook even the slightest of mistakes that are common when writing code. It covers code correctness, test coverage, and functionality changes and follows the coding guides and best practices.



<customlinks>
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<ts-linktext-value>Software Testing Strategy</ts-linktext-value>
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<ts-linktext-value>Top Software Testing Trends</ts-linktext-value>
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<ts-linktext-value>Different Software Testing Types</ts-linktext-value>
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Role Of A Software Tester In Code Reviews

What is Code Review | Why ,Benefits & Approaches

SaaS (software as a service) which is one of the most popular forms of cloud computing has completely revolutionized the world of cloud computing as it is being adopted by a majority of the IT organizations to modernize their IT structure.



With companies shifting their tools and platforms from on-premise to cloud-based solutions, there is no doubt the future belongs to the SaaS test automation platforms. As cloud-based frameworks require no expertise, installation time or effort and do not depend on a robust internal infrastructure, your tests can be up and running in just a matter of a few minutes. 



With SaaS, you don’t need to invest in internal infrastructure. In addition, you won’t need a dedicated team to maintain its operation.



But one question which still haunts most of the big software enterprises is:&nbsp;



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Is_SaaS_Really_Safe">1 Is SaaS Really Safe?</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_Choose_a_Trustworthy_SaaS_Platform">2 How to Choose a Trustworthy SaaS Platform?</a></li><li><a href="#Best_Practices_for_Controlling_Cloud_Access_in_Your_Organization">3 Best Practices for Controlling Cloud Access in Your Organization</a></li><li><a href="#Steps_to_Ensure_a_Safe_SaaS_Network_Access">4 Steps to Ensure a Safe SaaS Network Access</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="is-saas-really-safe">Is SaaS Really Safe?</h2>



Though SaaS has numerous advantages for businesses, a lot of organizations are afraid of moving to SaaS because of data security issues.&nbsp; The fear is because the data is no long managed internally and is now hosted on the cloud.



Some businesses don’t like this idea of outsourcing the security of their data to a third-party company, especially if they are dealing with sensitive data on a regular basis.



A lot of trustworthy SaaS companies or cloud service providers such as Testsigma having a strong history of client satisfaction have very strict data security policies which make them immune to breaches in their systems. Apart from this, a lot of SaaS providers host software in extremely safe and secure facilities which avoids a hacker or any type of cybercriminal from getting their hands on your organization’s sensitive or critical data.



Though organizations can have more control over on-premise applications through their own firewalls and antivirus software, they need to have a <a href="https://xl.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">professional IT department</a> for watching over data policies, access privileges, and application securities. But in the case of SaaS, the SaaSproviders are data security specialists who proactively manage and protect the clients’ servers, applications, platforms, and sensitive data. This particularly is a major advantage for small companies as they can get enterprise-grade technologies at a low price by adopting SaaS.



Hence the culture of distrusting third parties should be set aside to avoid the obstacles in achieving high growth and progress for the organization.



But there are certain precautionary measures which the managers and employees using or working on the SaaS products/services need to keep in mind, the most important of which is making the right SaaS platform selection.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="how-to-choose-a-trustworthy-saas-platform">How to Choose a Trustworthy SaaS Platform?</h2>



It is your responsibility to check whether the&nbsp;<a href="https://outreachmonks.com/saas-marketing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SaaS marketing</a>&nbsp;platform you are going to use for SAAS marketing is safe or not, be it a quality management software, an ERP (Enterprise resource planning) software, or a codeless test automation tool.



It is important to make sure that the SaaS is safe by –



1. Determining whether the SaaS was deployed on a safe cloud server2. Checking that it has proper certifications3. Ensuring data privacy and other major security concerns4. Ensuring whether the platform is reliable and scalable5. Checking the current security protocols and the steps to be followed in case of a system breach



For instance, <a href="https://testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Testsigma (opens in a new tab)">Testsigma</a> works hard to provide faultless software and keep security at enterprise-grade standards to give their clients the best in class services.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="best-practices-for-controlling-cloud-access-in-your-organization">Best Practices for Controlling Cloud Access in Your Organization</h2>



According to the<a href="https://www.shredit.com/en-us/resource-center/original-research/security-tracker-2018" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)"> Security Tracker Survey</a> conducted by Shred-it on information security, it has been found that employee negligence is one of the biggest information security risks to businesses. Hence it is important to effectively control and monitor how your employees use SaaS solutions to ensure that security standards are maintained.



Here are some of the best practices to be followed for controlling cloud access in your organization:



1. Set a fixed day and time for allowed access with the help of automatic locking systems2. Give hierarchical access as per the employee’s function within the company3. Enhance the security layers, for example, a two-step authentication4. If possible, give access to systems and applications via mobile or just through corporate computers5. Frequent training as a practice should be adopted in organizations to help employees regarding the responsibilities of access and use of phones, computers in order to avoid security-related issues



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="steps-to-ensure-a-safe-saas-network-access">Steps to Ensure a Safe SaaS Network Access</h2>



It is important to make sure that the basic safety precautions have been taken before adopting a SaaS network to ensure safe and secure access to the platform. Here are certain steps to follow:



1. Don’t record extremely sensitive or critical data. Though you get access to your company’s most critical information on a single platform, it does not mean that you have to leave them saved in your virtual environment.It is ideal to have a filter or another type of storage to secure the most precious and valuable information for the company.



2. It is important to select a SaaS provider which can fully integrate with your enterprise with identity verification services. Make your IT architecture such that it monitors even the slightest of suspicious activity continuously and take necessary steps to avoid damage.



3. Make sure you have extra internal security solutions such as having periodic backups and regular audits from time to time. Organizations must understand that even a loose nut can open the doors for hackers and other types of virtual criminals.



4. It is important to know what and how much to expect from a complete SaaS testing solution as SaaS is safe as long as the organization knows how to implement it.



5. Data encryption is one of the most important parts of data security as always make sure that your cloud data is encrypted, at rest and in transit.



QA managers should keep these security measures in mind while they are planning to implement a secure SaaS platform. Though there are several options available in the market, it is always best to analyze both their requirements and the features provided by these SaaS platforms to select the best solution which perfectly fits with the company’s architecture.



Implementing a <a href="https://cameldigital.co/blog/saas-ppc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PPC for SaaS</a> strategy can ensure that businesses connect with potential customers who are actively searching for software solutions.



The idea of SaaS applications more vulnerable to data breaches as compared to on-premise solutions is a myth as cloud security is only going to get stronger with time and give businesses more reasons to switch to SaaS.



Being a SaaS codeless test automation platform, Testsigma completely understands the privacy and security of its customer’s sensitive data and hence uses the best information security practices to provide a secured and reliable test automation platform. Testsigma has commercially reasonable security measures in place in order to protect its clients against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under control.



In the end, security in the cloud is a shared responsibility and the onus of a safe SaaS is not only on the hands of the SaaS service provider but also on the hands of the QA manager and the employees of the company and each party should know and practice their duties regularly with honesty to achieve a no security breach environment. 



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Is Testsigma secure for your organization

Is Testsigma secure for your organization?

Companies are trying to actively recognize any challenges that their employees are facing. A major challenge that software testing teams across the globe face today are the dependence on physical machines. Other reasons include dependency on infrastructure and internet for the execution of tasks.



Automation, in various ways, can help testing teams work better in the remote working environment. Some such ways are discussed below:



1. Automate your regression testing: <a href="https://testsigma.com/regression-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Regression testing</a> may require significant effort if done manually by QE team and multiple iterations can make it more tedious and error-prone.



On the other hand, if the product has test automation in place, it can help a lot in quickly executing the regression tests after any code changes made by developers.. This helps a lot in improving the team’s productivity by providing quick feedback on the code changes and catching bugs early on. Also, QE team can continue working on their assigned tasks, meanwhile, test automation is running, thus improving productivity.&nbsp;



Having reliable test automation goes a long way in improving product’s quality and providing the DEV and QE team with the flexibility to work on their own time.&nbsp;



From the perspective of remote work, it becomes all the more important. During remote work, when every person is juggling a number of tasks during the day. Having things automated reduces the burden of regression testing and makes it more efficient.&nbsp;



With <a href="https://testsigma.com/regression-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">automated regression testing</a> in place, developers don’t need to wait for QE to perform the regression testing and provide feedback on the code changes. QEs don’t need to be available at ad-hoc times to test changes done by developers and provide feedback. 



Developers can get immediate feedback on their code changes through test automation results and rectify problems if any. Thus, independent work in a remote setting becomes easy and manageable.&nbsp;



2. <a data-wpil="url" href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-driven-development/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Test-Driven Development(TDD)</a>: In test-driven development, tests are created before the feature is developed. QE team automates the test cases for the feature to be developed and integrates them into the system. These tests would fail until the feature is developed and exhibits expected behaviour. Once the feature starts exhibiting expected behaviour, the tests should pass.



Similar to regression testing, test-driven development will ensure that developers don’t need to wait on the QE team for feedback. They get real-time feedback for their progress on feature development by running their code through the already existing test cases and analyzing test results.&nbsp;



When TDD is in place, QE and Dev tasks need not be tightly coupled. Thus, it helps in ensuring a flexible work schedule for everyone in the team in a remote work setting.&nbsp;



3. Continuous Integration and Continuous Testing: Continuous Testing is the process of testing at all stages of software development – one after the other – without any human intervention. These different stages could be stages of tests: unit tests, integration tests, acceptance tests and performance tests as well as stages of environments such as Dev, QA, Staging and Production.



A CI/CD pipeline ensures that any code changes are tested as soon as they are integrated into the central code repository. For example, when a code change is integrated into the centralized source code repository, unit tests can be automatically executed followed by integration tests and acceptance tests.



Having a CI/CD pipeline not only helps developers get immediate feedback on their work but also empowers everyone in the team to work as per their own schedule.&nbsp;



4. Schedule your automated tests to run in the off hours: To avoid being delayed because of the internet connectivity woes, it is better to schedule the test runs for the time when the internet usage is not at its peak. These will be your night hours usually.You can schedule the test runs overnight and analyse the reports in the morning. Use a tool that lets you send the reports to your emails as soon as the test run ends. Also, it should allow you to analyse the testing status from wherever you are.



5. Start implementing in-sprint test automation to avoid any spillage of automation activities beyond a sprint:If your organization is implementing scrum, it is better to follow in-sprint test automation for its success. When a story is considered done only after its test cases are automated too &#8211; it helps the testing team keeping up with regression testing and development every sprint. This also helps in getting better results from continuous testing and integration. 6. Last but not the least, If you have not already &#8211; choose a test automation tool that fits your project requirements:



If a team has not started on automation yet, this time is good to start looking for a good tool. The tool should fit your project requirements and should help enable remote work. Having a cloud-based tool at this time would remove any dependency on infrastructure hosting. Also, it can be accessed by the whole team from anywhere anytime helping distributed teams collaborate better. Additionally, for QA teams working remotely on various networks or devices, using a trusted <a href="https://surfshark.com/download/macos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VPN App for MAC</a> provides secure access to testing environments and safeguards sensitive data. A reliable VPN App helps maintain secure connections during distributed testing sessions, which is particularly important when utilizing public or shared internet connections.



<a href="https://testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Testsigma is a completely cloud-hosted solution</a> that solves all your web, mobile and API automation needs in the same place. Also, it is completely cloud-hosted.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/vnTWj_Fj_9iWjgmum71C_tvxIH-lg2ARXA2rHlzCOORM8QJmuBiv58NiC_XskVPSqAvhT_cLdtDqoOrEqVvCfSWKjrQSiMPNErzhx0q2gUKLxtmj-ALIBMZrT7wrNw_1748949243.png" alt="Testsigma - completely cloud-hosted solution"/></figure>



Other benefits of Testsigma as the tool to enable your remote work include:



1. Just sign up to start automating2. Quick and easy test creation in simple English, thus easy learning curve for anyone.3. Test cases are executed on the cloud that helps in quick feedback for every test run.4. Highly customizable test execution. Tests can be created and executed as needed. You can run the whole suite, run on the cloud, run on the device, run a subset of test cases.5. Run the test cases in parallel without any additional setup6. Easy debugging and maintenance. If there are some resources that are impacted due to another unrelated change, Testsigma compiles and reports them in one place for an easy fix.7. Test cases for web, mobile and API &#8211; all can be automated at one place.8. Seamless integration with any CI/CD tools you are already using in your organization.9. End to End test execution and reporting on the cloud &#8211; including cross-browser testing.10. Detailed and customized reporting that can be accessed anytime anywhere.11. Easily include non-technical members in the test automation workflow for reviews and feedback.



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Tips To Overcome Remote Testing Challenges

There are lots of applications that users use these days, some are accessed via the internet while some of them are installed on the user’s computer. The former being categorized as the web-based applications while the latter falling into the desktop applications category. Lets have a detailed look into Desktop vs Web Application Testing here.



There are a lot of differences in the operating mechanisms of both and some groups even consider either one of them as being better than the other.



Let’s briefly describe the basic definitions of each of them first and then describe in detail the underlying Desktop vs Web Application Testing differences that make them fall apart in certifying the quality of each of them.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Desktop_Application_vs_Web_Application_8211_Overview">1 Desktop Application vs Web Application &#8211; Overview</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_the_Difference_Between_Desktop_Application_Testing_and_Web_Testing">2 What is the Difference Between Desktop Application Testing and Web Testing?</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="desktop-application-vs-web-application-overview">Desktop Application vs Web Application &#8211; Overview</h2>



Desktop Application &#8211; Desktop application is a name coined for a general program used to run on a personal computer or laptop. This is a standalone software program which doesn’t depend on any internet connectivity for its working and its performance is not impacted because of any network related latencies. Few examples of desktop applications are MS-Word, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and calculator etc. Check here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/desktop-application-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Desktop Application Testing</a>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="733" height="485" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Desktop-App.jpg" alt="Desktop Application" class="wp-image-22358"/></figure>



Web Application &#8211; Web Application is a general application program that is stored or hosted on a remote server and is accessed over the internet via a browser interface. The Internet is the basis for these types of applications to work. Any network-related latencies result in performance hindrances in these types of applications. Check here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/web-application-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web Application Testing</a>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="733" height="485" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Web-Application-Testing.jpg" alt="Web Application Testing" class="wp-image-22360"/></figure>



Advantages of Web Applications Over Desktop Applications



Here are a few advantages of <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-web-application-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">web applications</a> over desktop applications –



1. Web Applications are run via a browser, so the developers need not develop different apps for different platforms.



For example, an application which can run on chrome will run on both Windows and Linux. By just updating the application on the remote server, all the users can have access to the updated application.



2. Web applications serve better in terms of providing a consistent user interface across different platforms as the UI is more dependent on the browser than the OS.



3. The data processing and storage in case of web applications happens on the remote server which can be easily accessed by all the remote users instead of heavy file transfers across computers.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="848" height="485" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Web-app-vs-Desktop-App.jpg" alt="Web Apps vs Desktop Apps" class="wp-image-22362"/></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-is-the-difference-between-desktop-application-testing-and-web-testing">What is the Difference Between Desktop Application Testing and Web Testing?</h2>



Having gathered a sound understanding of how Desktop vs Web Application differ in short, let’s see the major difference between web application and desktop application in terms of parameters and how those differences impact the way each of these is tested. 



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table style="border: 1px solid black;border-collapse: collapse"><tbody><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Parameters</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop Application Testing</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Application Testing</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Environment</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop Applications are platform-dependent and are confined to the machine that they are deployed on.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Application testing is performed with the application deployed on a server which can be accessed by other computers with just a browser.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Platform</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Separate desktop applications need to be developed for different platforms.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Applications are platform-independent, hence they can run on multiple platforms without needing a separate development altogether.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Deployment/Upgrades</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Deployment or any code upgrade needs to be done separately on all the client machines.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Deployment or any patch upgrade needs to be done on a single set of server machines only.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Security</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications, on the other hand, are better equipped in terms of authorization and administration control and are hence more secure. Security testing can hence be either skipped or can be performed at a very trivial level.&nbsp;</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Applications are more prone to security risks which are attributed to its mass accessibility. Security testing plays an important role in case of web application testing due to its large exposure to the multitude of audience.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Storage of Data</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications have all the data stored on the machine on which the application is deployed.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">In the case of web applications, the data is stored remotely on the server and is accessed by our personal laptops remotely with the help of a web browser &amp; internet connectivity.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Types of Tests Performed</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">GUI Functionality Load Backend</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">User Interface TestingLoad, Stress, Volume Browser/OS CompatibilitySecurityData Volume testing cross Browser testing static page testingBroken Link Testing</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Architecture</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications have a single-tier architecture where the application under test runs on a single computer. There is no client and server in these.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web applications are built on a tier architecture which can run on 2 or more than 2 computers. These have clients and servers in their architecture.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Connectivity</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications don’t require internet connectivity as they are hosted on the user machines only. Hence internet connectivity tests need not be in scope for these applications under test.&nbsp;</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web applications are dependent on the internet connectivity for their functioning Internet connectivity tests need to be performed to check the application performance at various speeds.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Accessibility</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications are confined to physical locations and hence can only be accessed from the machines on which they are inherently deployed. Hence the tests would involve the user testing all the application features on the machine on which it is deployed.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web applications don’t have any location constraint to be accessed as they are deployed on servers which can be accessed from anywhere. Testing should involve different users testing the application under test from different computers from remote locations as well.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Number of Users</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">At any given point in time, there is a single user testing or using the desktop application on a machine</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Multiple users can access web applications across the internet and browsers.</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



To summarize, in order to test a desktop application, the focus should be environment-oriented as a desktop application is operated in a specific environment only. Desktop applications should be tested for usability, functionality, backend and load.



Here get the list of Best <a href="https://testsigma.com/tools/desktop-automation-tools/">A</a><a href="https://testsigma.com/tools/desktop-automation-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">utomation Tools for Desktop Applications</a>



While doing the Web testing, it’s critical to ensure that the web application under test can be easily accessed by the real users and is functioning properly across all browsers and operating systems. Web applications should hence be tested for functionality, compatibility, security, performance, usability and accessibility.



Know More: <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/web-app-testing-checklist/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web Application Testing Checklist</a>



If you have been doing website testing and are now wondering if you need to implement automation then this is the article that can help you figure it out:<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/5-signs-you-need-to-implement-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> 5 signs you need to implement test automation</a>



Testsigma, a cloud-based test automation tool has revolutionized the way you you can <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-web-application-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automate your website testing</a>. It enables you to automate your test cases in simple English. Simple English does not just work for simple work flows but also for the complex ones.



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Desktop application testing versus Web application testing

Desktop Application Testing vs Web Application Testing

Quality Assurance VS Quality Control (QA VS QC): What’s the Difference?

<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Introduction">1 Introduction</a></li><li><a href="#Types_of_Software_Bugs">2 Types of Software Bugs</a><ul><li><a href="#1_Implementation_Bugs">2.1 1. Implementation Bugs:</a></li><li><a href="#2_Specification_Bugs">2.2 2. Specification Bugs:</a></li><li><a href="#3_Absent_Specification_Bugs">2.3 3. Absent Specification Bugs: </a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#What_Causes_Bugs_in_Software">3 What Causes Bugs in Software?</a><ul><li><a href="#1_RegressionInjection">3.1 1. Regression/Injection: </a></li><li><a href="#2_Inadequate_Testing">3.2 2. Inadequate Testing:</a></li><li><a href="#3_Communication_Gap">3.3 3. Communication Gap:</a></li><li><a href="#4_Improper_Planning">3.4 4. Improper Planning:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#How_can_Software_Bugs_be_Prevented">4 How can Software Bugs be Prevented?</a><ul><li><a href="#1_Test-Driven_Development_TDD">4.1 1. Test-Driven Development (TDD):</a></li><li><a href="#2_Continuous_Integration_Continuous_Testing_CICT">4.2 2. Continuous Integration Continuous Testing (CICT):</a></li><li><a href="#3_Behaviour_Driven_DevelopmentBDD">4.3 3. Behaviour Driven Development(BDD):</a></li><li><a href="#4_Specification_Review_and_Management">4.4 4. Specification Review and Management:</a></li><li><a href="#5_Clear_Communication">4.5 5. Clear Communication:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Why_are_not_all_Software_Bugs_Preventable">5 Why are not all Software Bugs Preventable?</a><ul><li><a href="#1_Effort_Tradeoff">5.1 1. Effort Tradeoff: </a></li><li><a href="#2_User_Immunity_to_Bugs">5.2 2. User Immunity to Bugs: </a></li><li><a href="#3_Team_Structure_and_Dynamics">5.3 3. Team Structure and Dynamics: </a></li><li><a href="#4_Software_Patch_Releases">5.4 4. Software Patch Releases: </a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">6 Conclusion</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="introduction">Introduction</h2>



Creating a bug-free software is hard, to the extent that it seems like a myth. Bugs in software represent the discrepancy between the expected and actual behaviour of the software. Although it&#8217;s unrealistic to make software bug-free, efforts can surely be made to minimize the number of bugs in software through various prevention and detection techniques.&nbsp;



Prevention techniques are the ones that can be used to prevent bugs from occurring in the software. Detection techniques are the ones that can be used to detect the bugs that exist in the software. As bug detection can happen only after the bugs begin to appear in the software, detection is a costlier technique than prevention to minimize the bugs in software.



Let us discuss the major types of software bugs, factors causing them, and how to prevent them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="types-of-software-bugs">Types of Software Bugs</h2>



Software bugs can be broadly classified into 3 major categories:



<h3>1. Implementation Bugs:</h3> Bugs introduced during the implementation of software can be classified as implementation bugs. These bugs don’t exist in the requirements and design phases of the software but get introduced when the corresponding specifications are implemented in the code. Therefore, these can also be termed as coding bugs.



For example, consider the login page for an application. According to the specification, a valid username may contain alphabets and numerals. During implementation, the developer allows the use of symbols in the username along with alphabets and numerals.&nbsp;



These are the most common types of bugs prevailing in software and can be prevented to a large extent. 



<h3>2. Specification Bugs:</h3>Bugs introduced at the time of creating specifications for software can be classified as specification bugs. These are the bugs that get introduced when technical specifications for requirements and design are created.&nbsp;



For example, according to the specification, if a user enters an incorrect password, the error message “Incorrect Password!” should be shown to the user. As per the standard security guidelines, the error message in this scenario should be “Incorrect Username or Password!”.



 If a naive developer, who doesn’t know about standard security guidelines and practices followed in software products, is tasked with implementing the specification and he/she unknowingly goes ahead and implements the behaviour as mentioned in the specification, then the bug occurring here is a specification bug.



Such bugs, if not caught early, can impact the product development cycle. 



<h3>3. Absent Specification Bugs: </h3>Bugs that get introduced in the software because workflows and use-cases related to them were not considered during the creation of specifications can be termed absent specification bugs. These are the bugs that arise because nobody thought they could happen or would be needed when the specifications were created. </li></ol>



For example, the specification for a website doesn’t talk about supporting HTTPS. Therefore, it is assumed that HTTPS support is not needed for the website.



Security vulnerabilities in products are a classic example of such bugs. The security aspect is generally not considered during the initial phases of product specifications and may get missed in later phases until someone starts seeing the associated risks and raises alarm.&nbsp; 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-causes-bugs-in-software">What Causes Bugs in Software?</h2>



Following are some of the common factors which cause software bugs:&nbsp;



<h3>1. Regression/Injection: </h3>A regression/injection is known to have happened when a new code change impacts the existing code in an undesirable manner, like a side-effect. This means that until the new code change was made, the software was working as expected but after the new code change, a bug has been introduced in the software.&nbsp;



Regressions/Injections are common when:



i. Teams are working with large and complex codebases of legacy products.ii. Teams are working in a disjoint manner such that they are not aware of how the modules they are working on may impact each otheriii. Product design is not clean enough to avoid side-effects in the code.



Whatever be the reason, regressions/injections pose serious challenges to the quality of a product and surely need to be prevented.



<h3>2. Inadequate Testing:</h3> If the software has not been thoroughly tested during its development cycle, there is an increased likelihood of bugs being left undiscovered in the product. These bugs would eventually be discovered by the end-users, raising concerns about the quality of the product.



This lapse in testing could be due to various reasons such as:



i. Lack of appropriate testing procedures for the product.ii. Shortage of experienced testers in the team.iii. Lack of time and resources needed for testing.



These bugs can surely be prevented from reaching the end-users by addressing the factors leading to inadequate testing.



<h3> 3. Communication Gap:</h3> Specifications depict the thoughts and vision of the people creating them. Any gaps in communication among people creating the specifications would eventually find their way in the specifications created by them.



These gaps in specifications can give way to miscommunication, assumptions, and conflicts leading to bugs. If some scenarios were not considered during creating a specification, expected behaviours for these scenarios would also be missing in the specification. 



This lack of information in the specification creates the opportunity for the development team to make assumptions regarding the expected behaviour for these scenarios. 



As assumptions are the first step on the path that leads to the difference between the expected and actual behaviour of a product, new bugs can get introduced in the product.



Sometimes, it may happen that different specifications or different sections in the same specification have conflicting expectations for the same use-case or scenario. 



Since development teams working on implementing these specifications may only refer to the sections relevant to them, such conflicts may be hard to catch early paving the way for bugs.&nbsp;



<h3>4. Improper Planning:</h3>Not considering scenarios that can impact the product later reflect poor planning. Such lapse in planning could also be due to a lack of relevant expertise in the team.



For example, if there is no security expertise in the team, it’s easy to miss on the planning of security-related efforts.&nbsp;



Improper planning may result in a lack of crucial components/modules in a&nbsp; product which may put the whole product at risk later.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="how-can-software-bugs-be-prevented">How can Software Bugs be Prevented?</h2>



Following are a few techniques that can help in preventing software bugs:



<h3>1. Test-Driven Development (TDD):</h3> TDD encourages creating failing tests for the feature/product before developing the feature/product. As the development for the feature/product reaches completion, the test cases begin to pass, validating the expected behaviour for the feature/product.



If tests are created before the feature/product, the likelihood of a feature/product reaching its end-users untested is greatly reduced. TDD can serve as a powerful technique to prevent bugs arising due to inadequate testing.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="2-continuous-integration-continuous-testing-cict">2. Continuous Integration Continuous Testing (CICT):</h3>



CICT emphasizes that every code change integrated into the central code repository should be automatically tested with predefined test cases. Thus, continuous testing is possible only when <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="automated testing (opens in a new tab)">automated testing</a> is implemented and integrated with CI/CD system. 



To achieve CICT for a product, it is crucial that the test automation system is integrated with the build system of the product.



Having a CICT pipeline for the product makes sure that any regressions/injections in the product are caught as soon as they are introduced. This saves a lot of time and effort that is otherwise spent in tracking down the changes that caused the regression/injection.&nbsp;



<h3>3. Behaviour Driven Development(BDD):</h3>BDD encourages the use of a Domain Specific Language (DSL) for communication between and within teams. Using DSL helps in reducing miscommunication among stakeholders.



When BDD is used, tests can be created in a simple text language like English which makes it easy for everyone in the team to participate in creating and reviewing tests without getting into the nitty-gritty of code syntax. 



This flexibility and transparency in creating and reviewing test cases can help a lot in reducing bugs occurring due to communication gaps between and within teams.



Testsigma is a unified test automation tool that has taken test automation to a new level by allowing automation in simple English. To know more about <a href="https://testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">Testsigma click here</a>.



<h3>4. Specification Review and Management:</h3> As the scope for the product evolves, so do specifications related to it. The dedicated effort may be required to review and track the updates happening in specifications. Early catching of any updates in the specifications which may lead to a potential conflict, can help in preventing bugs later in the implementation of the product.



<h3>5. Clear Communication:</h3> Open and clear communication among teams and team members can help a lot in highlighting absent/conflicting scenarios in specifications. If every team member is encouraged to communicate about use-cases or scenarios that they think are missing/conflicting in the specification then, such issues can be identified much quickly and early.



Encouraging teams to seek inputs from relevant stakeholders and brainstorm for the possible expected behaviours in cases of missing/conflicting specifications can help in reducing bugs arising out of assumptions made for implementation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="why-are-not-all-software-bugs-preventable">Why are not all Software Bugs Preventable?</h2>



Despite various prevention techniques available, bugs still find their way in products. There can be multiple factors for this, such as:



<h3>1. Effort Tradeoff: </h3>At times, you might need to choose between preventing bugs and evolving the product for new user groups, technologies and business domains.
With limited resources at hand, prioritizing bug prevention over new product features and updates may not always be a good business decision.



<h3>2. User Immunity to Bugs: </h3>Unless the bugs in the product make it really hard to use from a performance and stability perspective, users understand that bugs do exist in software and a bug-free software is not a realistic expectation.



<h3>3. Team Structure and Dynamics: </h3> Some of the bug prevention techniques might not work for you depending on your team structure and dynamics.



<h3>4. Software Patch Releases: </h3> If a critical bug in the product has made its way to the end-user, you know it’s not the end of the world and there is an option to provide a patch release or an early next release.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



It is always good to prevent bugs whenever possible. It saves a lot of time and effort later. But as discussed above, despite best efforts, some bugs might still find their way in the product. And it&#8217;s alright as long as these bugs don’t threaten user loyalty of the product.&nbsp;



A software with lots of features but poor stability and performance is as useless as a stable and highly performant software that doesn’t have enough features to achieve user workflows. To choose between preventing bugs and adding more features to the product, you need to find the right balance between the two.&nbsp;

Techniques To Prevent Software Bugs

Common testing mistakes made by beginners Testsigma

Common Software Testing Mistakes Beginners Make & How To Avoid

Remote work has been steadily gaining popularity for some years now. According to an article published by smallbizgenius, in 2019, the number of people who work from home has increased by 140% since 2005.



Now, most of the population is working from home. For most of the companies that had not adapted work from home before, this time has been an eye-opener. Many companies including the big ones like Twitter, Barclays, Mondelez are allowing employees to continue work from home indefinitely. as there is a wide range of tools that support organizational productivity, allowing employees to work remotely. From employee onboarding software to training tools, everything is geared to make workforce manageable.



Here, I am sharing a some remote working tips that I have learnt in my five years of remote working experience that could help you make your work effective personally and professionally.







<ul class="list_style_disc"><li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Follow a routine: When we go to the office, the routine comes naturally to us. While in the comforts of home, it can become a tough task. Having a routine in place will not only keep you in a better mood but your teammates will also know the right time to contact you.</li></ul>



You may have to put in conscious efforts to keep up a routine till the time it becomes a habit for you. Read here to know how to make new habits stick. A general rule of thumb to make a habit stick is to repeat it for 21 days without fail.



For me, personally, having a fixed sleep time and wake up time helped to schedule other tasks better.</li>



<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Work when you are the most productive: If you have been working for some time, you would know what hours of the day are most productive for you.Some people feel most productive in the silence of the night while some feel most productive in the early morning hours. Any time when you are able to get your work done without distractions is the best time. Try to get the most important tasks of the day done during these hours.</li>



<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Take breaks: Working continuously for a long duration is actually known to reduce productivity. So, instead of trying to do all the tasks in one go, try to break your work time into chunks of smaller duration.For eg., you can work for an hour on one task then take a break for 10 minutes, check your Instagram DMs or listen to music, and then work on another. Or you can pick some other duration depending on your tasks and personal suitability.</li>



Taking regular breaks lets your brain and body relax and also gives you the opportunity to spend some time with family at home or friends on a call.



<li style="padding-bottom: 30px">Do other tasks when you are not at your productive best: Checking emails is one task you can do at this time. You can schedule reading them at the end of your workday or just before you take a break or do some household chores.</li>



<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Take up only what you can manage: This point is especially for those who try to juggle many things at once. We are humans and even if we work 24 hours a day, the number of things we could accomplish is limited.



The best solution is to keep a list of tasks you need to do with priority assigned to all of them. Do the most important tasks first, including the tasks you need to take care of at home.</li>







<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Minimize distractions: For me, the biggest distractions are social media websites and apps. I open the phone to check one notification and then get stuck going through all the updates. This could also mean that while I was sitting in my workplace, I was not being productive and I end up spending a longer duration for the same task.



To keep myself away from any distraction and to be my productive best when it matters, I try to keep my phone away from me whenever I am working. Eventually, I stopped feeling the urge to check the phone now and then.



For some people, this distraction could be Netflix. A solution could be to plan for your work to be completed at a fixed time every day. At that time, you can switch on your Netflix and go binging without any guilt of not giving your 100% to your work. Know what distracts you from your work and keep away from it during work hours.</li>



Communicate: Being remote, communication is what suffers the most. So, you will have to be proactive to chase away any delays due to a shortage of communication. The best way is to communicate with the risk of over communication. One solution to enhance communication when working remotely is using&nbsp;RingCentral, a communication platform that provides messaging, video conferencing, and phone systems, among other features. When you are working remotely, people cannot see you working. They also won’t know if you are available or not. Communicate this beforehand.



<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Communicate: Being remote, communication is what suffers the most. So, you will have to be proactive to chase away any delays due to a shortage of communication. The best way is to communicate with the risk of over communication.</li>



When you are working remotely, people cannot see you working. They also won’t know if you are available or not. Communicate this beforehand.



If you have a doubt, ask. If you find some valuable information, share. If you feel like talking, ping someone. This way, you will also be able to bring your water cooler conversations to your home.</li>



<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Never guess or leave anyone guessing: If there is someone who needs to know the status of your task, don’t wait for them to ask. Ping them and let them know the status. If you are dependent on someone’s tasks, don’t assume their status. Just ask them.



This is also a perfect time to start using a collaboration tool like Slack, Asana, Trello etc to avoid any gaps in communication</li>



<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Have patience: With remote work, also comes work time flexibility. People work according to their own schedules. What could be a suitable time for you to work might be someone else’s time to feed their kids.



So, If you ask someone a question, give them time to return back to you. Meanwhile, you can work on some other tasks.</li>







<li style="padding-bottom: 30px">Stay visible: If there are group conversation, participate in them. And, always communicate your work status to your manager.</li>







<li style="padding-bottom: 20px">Talk to people: Even though you are working remote, you are part of a team. Being part of the team, you should know your team members and your team members should know you. So, whenever a situation comes where you can talk about yourself or ask about someone, act on it swiftly.Strengthen your remote team communication to ensure productivity.You should also ping your team members individually sometimes to just build up on those friendships that you might be otherwise missing by not going to the office.</li>



<li style="padding-bottom: 50px">Take care of yourself: To end the article on the most important note, all the remote working tips above would work for you only if you take care of yourself too. So, take out time for your hobbies, spend time with your family and friends. Have an ergonomic chair for a good posture. And do something to be happy every day.</li></ul>



If you are a tester, we also compiled some tips for <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/make-testing-remote-friendly/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="making testing remote-friendly (opens in a new tab)">making testing remote-friendly</a>.

15 Remote Working Tips From Experience

Here&#8217;s a quick QnA session with the one and only witty and sharp, Ajay Balamurugadas.



Ajay is an esteemed speaker, conducts multiple training sessions, learning activities, and testing initiatives. He is always ready to help and suggest thoughtful ideas(no doubt why people call him the &#8220;idea guy&#8221;!) 



Ajay leads delivery at Qapitol QA, a QA services&#8217; company that topped the<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" GTR Leaderboard (opens in a new tab)" href="https://gtr.agiletestingalliance.org/leaderboard/" target="_blank"> GTR Leaderboard</a>.



Here&#8217;s what we discussed.



Do you have a different strategy for your automation and your testing? Or one strategy to rule them all?



Automation and testing should not be compared. It is like comparing physics and science, baking, and cooking. Automation is part of testing. You need to check if certain things are as expected and a tool can do that faster. That is where automation will help.



There are certainly other areas and aspects of testing where it helps if you have a tester test, explore the application. You choose automation (tools) or humans based on what would help you achieve your mission, save time and cost (in that order most of the time).



How can manual testers and automation engineers complement each other when testing?



We need to first get rid of the terms &#8211; manual and automation engineers/testers. Maybe, let us call everyone testers &#8211; some specializing in functional testing and some good with automation tools.



We should understand the goals of testing &#8211; discover information related to the quality of the product. I recommend everyone read <a href="https://twitter.com/QualityFrog/status/1225540826916368388" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">this thread</a> by Ben Simo where he highlights how automation can help in testing.



What do you think is important for any team that is already working on automation or planning to start?



All the automation that is done should help everyone in the project. Imagine you have built the best scripts but no one is using it, what is the use? So, use automation not to replace testing as some claim, but to enhance the powers of testers



People say they can only know the maintenance cost once they have put the tool to use for some time, what scenarios should we keep in mind to get to know these sooner?



Discuss internally, use the trial version on the real project, ask people who have already used the tool. Do not think short term. See how you would use the tool for your projects in future.Analyze the costs throughout the cycle.



What factors can help a team decide if they are mature enough to adopt automation?



If you answer No to any of the following four questions, I would say &#8211; wait, maybe you are not ready yet.



<ol style="padding-bottom: 30px"><li>Are you and the product, development teams in sync about the release cycles and the changes?</li><li>Does everyone understand the current pain points and feel that automation can help remove the pain points?</li><li>Do you have the buy-in from the management?</li><li>Do the teams have the freedom to choose the tool for automation?</li></ol>



Are there scenarios when automation is not a solution? Can you give us an example?



Any team where automation is done just to prove that people are working on automation, trying to automate everything, automating the incorrect things are all examples where automation is more harmful.



One scenario where I think automation should be used to execute scenarios but used to help in other activities is when the product is undergoing a lot of changes, frequently.



Please do not automate if all the teams are not in sync about the value of automation else you will waste a lot of time and money.



To reduce learning costs, what would you say is better &#8211; a tool that has a good support team or a tool that has a good forum presence?



The ultimate goal should be achieved. The team should be able to learn the tool quickly. It could be through the support team sometimes and sometimes by a good forum presence. My personal preference is the forum presence for open source. Support is not always available and I would learn quicker from someone who has gone through the struggles similar to mine. 



In cases of commercial tools, you can be confident of a better support system that will guide you from onboarding to first tests to solving any problems and helping achieve your goals. With commercial tools, I prefer the support teams. 



It is a new challenge today. When everyone is remote and maintaining quality, how to stay demonstrably productive at this time?



Staying demonstrably productive is a wrong goal to chase. Be productive. That is enough.



At the start of the day, communicate to your team about the tasks you are targeting for the day. If any change in priority is needed, the team will let you know.



At the end of the day, highlight what was achieved and what is the plan for the rest. Do communicate a lot and agree upon catch up times.



Do you have any tips for effective testing at these testing times?



Anytime, everytime, work on your skills and do justice to the CTC you take home.Do not lie to self.



Now we are in 2020, how far have we come in terms of testing? Also, do you think AI is the future of testing?



Patterns repeat. Those days, people were chasing Selenium. Now they are chasing AI. The chase continues. Very few have dedicated their lives to learning testing in depth. AI is the future? Ha, ha. We will test applications based on AI but AI might not be the future so soon. It will take time. The chase will continue for the next big thing. We are forgetting that we are dealing with people at the end of the day and very few can predict what people want.&nbsp; 



At the same time, this is the time where we have so much data and computing power to analyze and predict with reasonable confidence compared to the past. People are already building applications that are heavily powered by AI and testing them brings out interesting challenges for the software testing community.



Let us enjoy the journey!







Check out Ajay&#8217;s latest book at&nbsp;<a aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://leanpub.com/50mistakes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.leanpub.com/50mistakes</a>&nbsp;that discusses 50 software testing mistakes of his career and find out more testing resources from him at <a href="http://enjoytesting.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Enjoy Testing</a>.



Ajay is very approachable and always willing to give advice. Hit him up on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ajay184f">Twitter </a>and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajaybalamurugadas/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">LinkedIn</a>.



Thank you Ajay for sharing your thoughts with us 🙂

QnA with Ajay Balamurugadas

Time suddenly took a U-turn and did when we least expected it. While just some time ago, millions of people were travelling across the globe, now we are forced to stay at home for our good.



If expert opinion and news analysis are to be believed, remote work is expected to become the new norm at least in the near future.&nbsp;



We need to equip ourselves to better adapt to the situation in the best way possible.



In this article, we have compiled some tips for remote QA testing teams to keep testing effectively.



1. Communicate



With teams working from physically different situations, the aspect of remote working that has the most impact is communication.



Schedule a short meeting daily to plan the work and practice sharing work status with your team. Make sure every team member is involved in it. A good practice is to share a summary of the discussion in case someone misses to join.



It is important that a remote QA testing team provides timely feedback. For testing specific tasks, always communicate the completion status on time when possible. A better way to do it is to update your teams on the progress of your work using a test management tool. Team members can access and check the status of the tasks anytime, anywhere. This will be particularly helpful if their tasks are dependent on yours.



2. Make your testing reports clear and concise



Some part of a tester’s daily activity will always involve reporting. Whenever a bug is found they will be logging bug reports. When executing test cases, they share execution reports. The execution reports will also be of different types &#8211; for eg. functional testing reports, performance testing reports, regression testing reports, release certification reports.



To make the reports useful while working remotely, they must highlight the issues and convey the test behavior. This prevents any to and fro between people to understand what the reports mean. This also helps teams to stay productive while working remote.



3. Automate workflow where possible



Depending on the type of project you are testing, and the role you are in, you would have a lot of workflows already automated or many might be pending.To improve the quality of remote testing work, try to automate the processes that would help other team members perform better.For example, having an automated CI/CD workflow where after every check-in, a regression test suite is executed automatically will save testers and the developers a lot of time.



4. Reduce potential blockers and individual dependencies, where possible



With remote work, all team members cannot be available at the same time. Keeping this in mind, individual dependencies should be removed as much as possible. For eg, if there are test automation scripts or test cases &#8211; they should be hosted at a location that is shared with all. The hosted locations and folder structures should be easy to understand and communicated to all beforehand.



5. Enable selective access to the testing machines on need-basis



There are organizations where testers need access to different machines and servers for testing. These machines could be hosted on the cloud or hosted in the organization’s headquarters within a private network. To keep the security intact, enable access to these testing machines and environments with the people that need to access it. Make sure to not share any potentially sensitive files/data on these machines.



6. Use secured tools



Now when people have no other way than to work remotely, people are also using various tools for making remote work easy. They could be <a href="https://trueconf.com/features/collaboration/instant-messaging.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">messaging apps</a>, meeting apps, task management tools, or collaboration tools.



 Though it&#8217;s good to use such <a href="https://callhippo.com/blog/business/productivity-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tools for better productivity</a> and reduced communication barriers, ensure that your tools are always secure. You need to keep yourself and your internet self safe and secure.



If you have not already, you should think of investing in a test management tool that allows you to host and manage your manual &amp; automated test cases, test execution reports, and analysis.



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<a href="https://testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Testsigma </a>is a unified test automation platform that allows you to:



1. Automate test cases on the cloud.



Testsigma allows you to automate test cases in simple English via NLP. These test cases are created and hosted on the cloud and can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, anytime.



2. Execute test cases on a cloud-hosted test lab that has 1000+ screen sizes to test on.



Testsigma has an in-built test lab with all the latest devices and browsers that you might need to test on. It can also easily integrate with BrowserStack and Sauce Labs.



3. Get comprehensive execution reports and access them anywhere anytime.



The execution reports are created keeping the most important stuff highlighted and the needed references attached which prove to be useful for testers as well as managers.



4. Easily integrate with other CI/CD tools you might be using.



If you have an already set up continuous integration/DevOps workflow, Testsigma can integrate seamlessly with it.



5. Debug your failed test cases on the cloud.



Testsigma attaches screenshots, video recording of test execution and logs to execution reports. It also supports pause and play of test cases for better debugging experience.



Testsigma offers On-Demand Automation Expert Services &nbsp;to address complex situations and growing requirements. The dedicated expert will work with you remotely and in the time zone you are comfortable with.



We are in tough times. Some of us could seem better than others but the fear of the unknown is worrying us all. So, let&#8217;s understand each other and have empathy for each other too, every moment of the day. If someone is not available, let&#8217;s understand and ask them when they will be available instead. In place of calling for a meeting without any notice, ask for time when they are comfortable and then schedule a meeting. If people don’t turn up, it&#8217;s ok.Make everyone feel inclusive and comfortable. Respect and appreciation might be something that might be needed more frequently in these times.



Know More: <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/tips-to-overcome-remote-testing-challenges/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tips for Remote Testing</a>

Make Testing Remote Friendly with Testsigma