What Is The Importance Of Software Testing?

We have an entire phase in the SDLC focused on software testing. Normally, it's executed after the developers have finished building the software - it's handed over to the testing team to carry out tests on it. This is, in my opinion, the most crucial part of the SDLC process.

The reason it's so important is that it is the major factor in getting high quality software. Developing software that works and works well would be the ultimate purpose of a project, and the testing phase is the place this is accomplished.

The software testing phase can be split up into smaller phases, each of which have their own value:

Unit Testing - testing each element of the software independently, to check that it works the right way in isolation.

System Testing - testing the whole system as a whole, making sure each of the components work as expected.

Regression Testing - testing the whole system against a pre-defined list of tests, to ensure the new changes don't impact existing functionality. This will be significant for upgrades and updates to software.

These are the main types of software testing and each of them are necessary. I believe there are three main reasons that we perform software testing.

Software Testing Results In Less Maintenance

The purpose of software testing is to guarantee good quality software. Good quality software indicates it has less defects or issues, it works well, and does what it needs to do. Once you do software testing during a development project, you are aiming to pick up and see all of the issues in the system before it is released to the users.

In a perfect world, the programmers will be creating software that works first go, and doesn't have any issues. However, this isn't often the case - bugs appear in the system and the software testing phase is there to pick it up. If it's identified prior to the release, that's great. If it's found after the release, it indicates that time will have to be spent finding a fix and performing more testing on it - all while the end users are using the software.

The time taken to repair defects after the software is released is considerably more than during the testing phase. It's because the fixes need more testing, and need to align to any maintenance releases or other plans that the organisation has set up. Getting it right the first time when you release it is as a general rule the best approach.

Good Software Testing Results In Increased User Morale

As pointed out above, correcting the bugs in the system prior to the release is preferred. Another bonus of using this method would be that the user morale and confidence in the software is increased. Why is this?

Well, let's say Project A has completed but software testing was not done very well. The software works, but not very well, but is still launched to the customers. They begin using it, and even though it does some things well, there are still outstanding concerns so some parts don't work as required. This results in the users getting frustrated with the tool - which is not the best thing for the organisation or the project team. The faults may end up resolved, but the decreased morale from the end users will take time to heal.

In contrast, Project B has finished. They have spent a longer period on software testing and when it is released, it has significantly less defects. It has taken more time to create, as a result of increased focus on testing, but when the customers have it, it's going to work effectively and they will be pleased with the software.

The testing energy and decision may be influenced by the organisation you're working for, and other components, but the benefits to user morale are substantial.

Software Testing Matches The Product To The Requirements

The last reason software testing is valuable is that it can be used to match the software to the requirements.

Software is made around the user requirements collected during the analysis phase of the project. The analysis period identifies what the software is expected to do. The developers make an attempt to build from these requirements, but it's the testing stage that checks that these requirements are actually met.

The testing is performed against functional requirements - including expected behaviour and what has to be done. It verifies that the software does what it expected to do, and that nothing has been done incorrectly or missed. It also checks non-functional requirements - items like load time and other performance measures.

What If We Didn't Do Software Testing?

One query people might consider, is what if we didn't perform software testing? Imagine if the coders just came up with software and introduced it? That is one option - but I don't think it's a very good one.

It will depend on the developer actually creating low-defect software - which isn't very likely. All developers (myself included) feel that their applications are bug-free, but in fact, issues are always found.

Releasing the software without testing means there is a high risk of issues being discovered, and the software not actually functioning. It would waste a lot of user time and energy when utilizing it. It may really cause more serious issues, including security breaches, data loss and corruption.

To sum up, the significance of software testing can be associated with three areas - less maintenance, improved user morale, and fitting to requirements. It leads to high quality software - which should be something all of us are aiming for.