In every software project, it is critical to measure quality, cost and effectiveness of the project.

If not measured, the project can not be completed successfully. Metrics help to estimate the progress, quality, various areas of testing effort and also helps to know whether the decisions taken were the right ones or not. If validating an application is on one side, measuring quality and making better decisions are on the other side.

Firms need to ensure that they are validating every project effectively and efficiently. The only way to ensure this happens is by using and tracking the relevant metrics. Every application has its own unique features and it is created with specific user function in mind. It means that no two pieces of an application will be the same. Software testing metrics play a key factor in determining how efficient the QA efforts are and how productive the test team is.

How many test cases are created for new release? How many tests pass in the first execution? How many tests failed and require a re-test? Which bug reports were filed in each cycle? It is important to keep track of these QA procedures. Reports on different levels will provide insights into the individual test execution, milestones, project status with detailed project reports.

However, most QA teams do not spend much time considering which factors are advantageous because they spend most of the time focusing on critical aspects like the test design, budget and testing turnaround time. Ignoring the consideration of right set of measures can impair the value of the whole validation effort.

Many testing activities employ a basic pass or fail assessment. This is the best option for some simple tasks but it is not appropriate when performance and user experience counts. An app that does not load in less than three seconds across multiple devices and platforms often results in poor user experience, loss of sale and user abandonment.

Unfortunately, less attention is paid to performance and this is not surprising considering validation is often truncated in the software development life-cycle due to lack of attention, budget and time.

QA should focus on one primary metric while still measuring the impact of other available information. This type of mindset will help to choose a fine approach of analyzing and performing effective testing. To identify the various beneficial QA factors, the test managers need to first align the business with user experience, reputation and financial needs.

The QA team needs to test a user's complete journey on an application to make sure that the user experience meets the specifications. Firms need to understand how an application behaves in the real world. To do this, an application need to be tested by real users in real-world situations. Firms need to make sure that all their meters have a purpose and are important for their projects.

Source by Pavan Kumar