Secrets of Group Testing

Source: Internet
Author: User

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Nivedita nimmagadda is the QA manager of next education. She has more than 10 years of experience. She is mainly interested in the research and development of new technologies, tools, processes and methods. She has been following up on the latest trends in software testing to minimize QA efforts and increase productivity. She is keen on smart work, rather than working hard. When managing a project, she emphasizes the process andProject ManagementAndTest Management ToolsHas made significant contributions to integration. She evaluated featuresAutomated Tools, Mobile automation tools andPerformance ToolsAnd trained and guided the team to establish a strong automation framework.

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When I hear the word "group test", what is the first thing that comes into your mind or everyone's mind? -- A large group of people are testing your product. That's right. wiki defines it like this. Unlike traditional testing methods, group testing is performed by different Testers in many different places, rather than hired consultants and experts. If you are a manager, a decision-making team, or a project manager, you will be confused:

  How can group tests ensure quality?
The Group is independent and tested as a user: the IT business is rapidly changing, and the same is true for the products designed. The more services you need, the more customers you need to deliver. The more likely your products will be tested frequently, the less the QA cycle will be. Once we meet the QA Team and try to understand the cause of failure, it is more or less because the developers and their peers have influenced the QA testing method. One advantage of group testing is that its QA does not work in teams and is not affected by developers. Therefore, it may be able to discover the buckets that the QA Team has not previously discovered, and help us improve our products from the user's perspective. In the industry, we can make the best effort to evaluate your products and suggest changes, if necessary. Group tests for different people and environments: a QA Team may test all devices and environments. This is true if it is mobile, becauseMobile MarketThe rapid development also means that new devices are introduced and the software version must be changed to meet the business needs. To overcome these challenges and make sure that your apps or web pages run normally in all environments or configurations, let the group test. This reduces the risk of failure in some special configurations. In addition, we can even select people of different ages to ensure that apps or webpages are effective for most high-end providers, mobile devices, and global signal strength. It helps us test the most practical usage. Fast turnaround time: the group is very suitable for companies that want to hire a large number of testers and verify a product for short turnaround time, rather than simply hiring QA for this purpose. A large group of people can test your applications on different devices, operating systems, and environments at the same time. In addition, if the application is too large to be tested, it can be divided into sub-modules (micro-tasks) and assigned to a group of users.

  How do I know what I get? Have I obtained the correct group?
Correct Tester: This is another thing that must be followed by management. Who wants an application and an application to test it. For B2C applications, we may be interested in a wide range of representative target users. We may want to select testers based on age, education, culture, language, etc. For B2B applications, some domain knowledge, professional skills and conditions may be advantageous or necessary. In most cases, Professional Software Testing engineers are strongly recommended. QA quality: crowdsourcing testing employs QA engineers in different fields. A single tester's question, background check, and beta testing are all done before users use them on their platforms. The methods for specifying QA vary depending on the company and should be checked before assigning tasks to these companies. Based on the good performance of the tester, the tester can work for that company.

  What is the pricing model provided, and how does it help me save money?
Like other evolution, one of the main reasons for crowdsourcing evolution is to reduce the required QA costs. Different crowdsourcing companies adopt different pricing models. Some companies pay testers based on the following payment modes or a combination of the following models, allowing the enterprise to pay based on the Payment Modes for each incorrect application: pay the Tester Based on the number of bugs found by the tester and the impacts of these bugs. This is the task assigned to the selected test group. In turn, the tester is paid based on the number of real bugs that can increase the product quality as proposed. This method is more useful when the company has a B2C application, because novice and professional testers only need to perform tests as end users. In B2B applications, testers will need a lot of training and specializations, and the bugs found need to be verified before being handed over to developers. This helps to find a large number of defects at a low cost. Each task has to pay a different price for the bug. The tester can see in the task reward description that the project is there (each user is eligible for bidding for the test price) cloud company website. The person with the lowest bid wins and is assigned to test the application. Competitions between testers: instead of providing money to testers immediately, testers are required to work on multiple components and each project has different rules. Once the tester wins the game and obtains the corresponding credit points, the tester keeps accumulating money and increases their chances of being selected by the next project. Resource Pool: Some group solutions can be exceeded only by individuals. They can even use mobile devices for testing and individuals can reap money by contributing to their devices. This allows companies to avoid the high cost of purchasing multiple devices. Automation tools are expensive, which can be shared by the cloud and groups. Testers can also be compensated for completing test scripts, providing valuable feedback, and other tasks. For software testing automation or any other specific field, hired testers are very popular and require higher salaries. This type of service can be easily obtained from the cloud. The pricing model can be changed, whether it is hourly payment or pay by completed task.

  How can I protect my company's IP address and/or user data?
Companies of the user group should have the same infrastructure as the system and Intranet-based testing environment that provides maximum security and on-demand replication based on the testing nature, including dedicated services for customers. However, considering the nature of group testing, the company is more concerned with privacy and customer data than the nature of IP and apps (which cannot be seen by this tester. For example, if the company is concerned about privacy, the company can hide the data used during the test. Security, especially mobile security, is a big problem, whether the company uses internal resources or external resources.

  When to use groups?
The environment and conditions for group testing continue to evolve, but the real key lies in "flexible innovation ". Think about hundreds of thousands of applications, ever-changing platforms and devices, and countless releases. In fact, the company has been using customers to test their software in real time. It is a wonderful new world, totally different from the past. For example, your company may:
? Attracts a vendor to provide complete outsourcing Group Testing
? Let crowdsourcing testing experts guide your employees on their daily tasks and Problems
? Use the group testing platform to find and hire professionals
? Agree to the group test platform to establish and manage your own groups
? Evaluate your internal testing tools and capabilities with groups
? Attract third parties to help provide crowdsourcing policies, supplier management, and group-based solution management.
These are all possibilities based on your company's unique environment and goals. Flexibility is innovation (compared to the traditional method of rapid development of huge resources, how companies identify, establish and manage groups; how to establish and run projects and realize: the Group is not just a 'work', but a reflection on how to work better.

  When is group testing suitable (when is it not suitable )?
How is Group Testing integrated into the entire company's purchase testing strategy and when is group testing suitable? The company should consider several important variables when and when it is best to use group tests for their software applications. Generally, group testing is best suited to the following scenarios:
? When the Internet is 'operating environment' and the Connection Mechanism
? When the application service is publicly available and can accept global requests
? When there is a need and ability to process large-scale concurrent online users
? Client Computer devices are open to the public, with only a few demands-PC and mobile
? Application stability has some levels
Some companies can only use group tests-for example, multi-language or "Dirty configuration" that reflects real user it settings ". The Group Testing industry is also suitable for a variety of testing methods-such as waterfall and agility-it is also very suitable for black box testing, apparently corresponding to applications outside the firewall. However, groups are not omnipotent. Companies cannot expect groups to test all the special cases and the unfavorable conditions of web or application server-side drivers, especially if the conditions change before or after the tests. Even so, the company still asked their exclusive group to do white box testing. In fact, traditional outsourcing providers in crowdsourcing and application testing are working to build dedicated groups to improve the efficiency of their own testers. In short, based on the above factors, there is always time and place for companies to use group testing as an important part of their entire testing strategy.

  Challenges when using groups
With various forms of procurement, there will be a variety of work methods available for buyers to choose from. Various application testing methods have obstacles and difficulties. Traditional outsourcing has difficulties both inside and outside the company, including:
? Lack of internal testing makes it difficult for external providers to intervene
? Insufficient internal funds when purchasing other options
? Vendors lack test automation tools and expertise
? Supplier industry knowledge about business and related applications
Companies that evaluate group testing may have similar issues, but nothing else (for example, professional or functional testing may be less relevant to B2C applications ). Some problems are only for group testing, such as new things on the market, Quality Problems of processes and workers, as well as data privacy, IP address protection and security issues.

Copyright: This article from spasvo zezhong Software Testing Network: http://www.spasvo.com/news/html/2014617142827.html

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