Why software testing is important?

Software Development
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#1

Few can argue against the need for quality control when developing software. Late delivery or software defects can damage a brand’s reputation — leading to frustrated and lost customers. In extreme cases, a bug or defect can degrade interconnected systems or cause serious malfunctions.

Consider Nissan having to recall over 1 million cars due to a software defect in the airbag sensor detectors. Or a software bug that caused the failure of a USD 1.2 billion military satellite launch. 2 The numbers speak for themselves. Software failures in the US cost the economy USD 1.1 trillion in assets in 2016. What’s more, they impacted 4.4 billion customers. 3

Though testing itself costs money, companies can save millions per year in development and support if they have a good testing technique and QA processes in place. Early software testing uncovers problems before a product goes to market. The sooner development teams receive test feedback, the sooner they can address issues such as:

  • Architectural flaws
  • Poor design decisions
  • Invalid or incorrect functionality
  • Security vulnerabilities
  • Scalability issues

When development leaves ample room for testing, it improves software reliability and high-quality applications are delivered with few errors. A system that meets or even exceeds customer expectations leads to potentially more sales and greater market share.

#2

Software testing is more important than writing a code. Inadequate testing is one of the major reasons behind project failures.

Here are top 5 reasons why we should have thorough test plan in place:

1. Testing validates code against actual requirements and not against what developer thinks as right.
2. End to end testing ensures nothing is broken or impacted by the new feature.
3. Testing under production like environment simulates actual real life scenarios which can not created in lower environments.
  1. Performance and load testing ensures that application is sustainable under high volume of data.
  2. User acceptance testing gives the final sign off for the deployment.