Manual Testing: When and Why it’s Still Important?

• By Admin
• Posted on 23/09/2024

Manually executing test cases to uncover defects or errors in software and ensure it functions as intended is called “Manual testing”. This is different from automated testing, where the tester examines several factors without relying on any other tools or scripts.

In the manual testing course, you can learn how the tester acts like a user and checks each feature, function, or user interface without using any tool. It helps in assessing problems, especially in terms of user experience, user interface, or usability.

Role of Manual testing in the software development lifecycle (SDLC)

The SDLC consists of various phases, among which this testing approach becomes especially important. 

• With manual testing, testers examine the software from the user's perspective, determining the software's user interface (UI), user experience (UX), and other aspects. 
• Furthermore, manual testing can easily respond to rapid changes in the software development process, making it an important tool for smaller projects with less funding. 
• Despite automated testing, manual testing is necessary to properly understand real-life situations and user preferences. 

If you find it an interesting career option, enroll in an institute conducting a Manual Testing Training program.

Importance of Manual testing vs. Automated testing

In manual testing, testers test the software application without using any latest tools. Following each test case, the tester himself runs the program and examines the results. Through manual testing, they can use their experience and knowledge to understand the customer's intentions and identify UX/UI flaws.

Manual testing is difficult to work with as fast and scalable as expected. This method is mostly used for small projects, random testing, or user experience/visual testing. It is initially a low-cost testing approach as it can be done without the need for special tools.

Key Differences between automated and manual testing:

Before proceeding further, let’s discuss the major differences between both types of testing. 

1. In manual testing, the tester performs the test itself whereas automated testing is conducted with scripts.
2. Manual testing takes more time to complete, but automated testing can test software faster.
3. In manual testing, bugs can be found from a customer perspective, whereas in automated testing, only errors in the code are found.
4.  Automated testing is very easy in large projects, but manual testing faces challenges in large projects.
5. Manual testing has low initial costs, but automated testing has high initial costs but pays off in the long run.

• Manual testing is required where creativity is required, while automated testing is best for rapid iterative processes

When Manual Testing is Crucial?

1. How important is manual testing in exploratory testing:

• Free Orientation: The software can be tested according to the user's taste, without pre-determined test cases.
• Finding Solutions: Exploratory testing can find problems that cannot be identified with automated testing.
• Speed: Identifying software defects through extensive experimentation in a short amount of time.

2. Manual testing in User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) testing:

• It helps in checking visual elements can be checked for proper display.
• The behavior of a webpage or app can be tested according to user instructions.
• Manual testing is useful to see if the features and functions are easy to understand by the user.
• It can detect sensitive errors in providing a user-friendly experience.
• The real-time response is examined and focuses on whether it meets the different expectations of the users.

3. Manual testing is important in Ad-hoc Testing

• Manual testing enables immediate detection of unexpected problems.
• New problems can be discovered by testing unplanned scripts.
• This testing is based on technical knowledge only. No need for documentation.
• Manual testing is faster for smaller problems.
• Provides freedom to explore new things.

4. Manual testing is critical in usability and availability testing:

• It helps users identify availability-related issues.
• Manual testing methods detect small UI/UX defects.
• It reflects the experiences of real users.

5. When important for short-term or small projects

• It is less expensive for small projects as automation is not required.
• Manual testing can be completed quickly for short-term projects.
• Small projects or one-off projects do not require much automation testing.
• Manual testing is easy to perform on small projects having fewer test cases.

Challenges of manual testing

1. Time-Consuming: Manual testing is a gradual process that takes a lot of time, thereby lengthening the development cycle.
2. Human Errors: Testing performed by humans is prone to errors.
3. Difficult to repeat: Repeating identical testing sequences makes it difficult to obtain accurate results.
4. Validation required: Without equipment, errors and inconsistencies may occur during testing across various environments and devices.
5. Criteria and Results: The human brain might struggle to process every aspect of an environment, making it challenging to fully observe such devices or machines.

Manual testing training is critical to manually identifying these challenges and taking possible solutions.

Why manual testing is preferred in Agile and DevOps?

In Agile and DevOps environments, software development changes rapidly. Here manual testing is mainly preferred due to different reasons. 

First, it provides an independent analysis based on which automated testing software cannot detect errors within program limits. Providing useful analytics through human feedback helps improve user interaction and experience.
Further, Agile and DevOps processes enable iterative small changes and rapid releases, but these environments require exploratory and user experience testing. By conducting these tests manually, it is possible to maintain the quality of the software.

In a manual testing course, you can learn proficiency in testing applications by hand, ensuring quality.

Balancing manual and automated testing

1. Assessing Solution Needs: Based on the size and complexity of the project, determine how to balance automated and manual testing.
2. Classification of tasks: Perform user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) tests using manual testing, and use automated testing for repetitive and substantial test cases.
3. Estimating time and cost: Use manual testing for small projects or temporary requirements; but prefer automated testing for larger projects.
4. Repetitive manual testing: Some team members should be trained specifically for new manual testing situations.
5. Establishing standard models: Improve project quality by balancing manual and automated testing.

Thus, by effectively balancing manual and automated testing, better software quality can be achieved.

Conclusion

The importance of manual testing continues in software quality assurance. Manual testing is indispensable in identifying user interface, user experience, and unique test cases. This is important for functional testing and user-centric analysis. 
If you want to make your career in manual testing, join a reputed institution such as Askme Training. We are a reputed Noida-based software testing training center.