Why Should Software Testing Be Prioritized?

Of the various components of modern software development, a case could easily be made that a quality assurance testing system is the most important. Programmers and business interests are obviously vital for the ideation and development of a solution. However, there's really only one way to verify that the application works, and that's to test it. Otherwise, you're basically left with theory.

That said, test management is more complicated, and multidimensional than simply fiddling with the software. It requires a high level of organization and collaboration between teams, and a strong set of qa software testing tools capable of tracking test cases, and expediting defect management. This is mainly because when it comes to QA management, there's a lot on the line. Here are just a few of the reasons why testing is such a priority for software developers:

Security

Whether your organization is creating a customer-facing shopping application, or a business-facing CRM tool, security is a top priority. Hackers will exploit any vector they can to get their hands on sensitive data that could be sold on the dark Web. For businesses, one of the most difficult cyberthreats to preempt is the zero-day attack. These hacks essentially scope out flaws in an application's code, and then use it to gain unauthorized access and steal information. It's therefore vital that software is tested both for its overall security, as well as its functionality, according to TechTarget contributor C. Warren Axelrod:

"[F]unctionality testing and security reviews do not cover what is perhaps the greatest vulnerability area of all, namely, ensuring that applications do not authorize functions which specific users are not supposed to perform."

Application Integrity

Ensuring that software is structurally sound requires QA management to vet the overall architecture of the solution. These basic tests are often referred to as unit tests and regression tests. The former is a granular assessment of each line of code, while the latter refers to testing software with each new iteration to ensure that any changes haven't broken any functionality. In order to expedite this process, many testers will rely on test automation integration rather than manually running these tests. This is especially useful where test cases may be repetitive. The ultimate goal of unit and regression tests is to ensure that the code is executing the way it's intended to. 

An application must meet certain user requirements to viably compete: How well does the software accomplish what the end user needs it to? This is called end user acceptance testing, and it's not unusual for bugs to be detected at this stage. This is never good news for QA management, but the sooner a user experience defect is caught, the sooner it can be dealt with. Software Testing Help noted that any defects caught in the UAT phase of testing can be handled in one of several ways: The release date for the product can be pushed back as the team fixes the bug; the glitch can be left alone entirely (assuming it's negligible enough to ignore); or it can be released as is, with a fix for the bug being part of the next iteration. Regardless of which approach an organization takes, it's important that it has a defect management strategy in place. 

Return On Investment

The ultimate goal of software development is return on investment. ROI will dictate everything about a project: how it's executed, what features are included in the build, the target audience, different testing methodologies, etc. While there will be some variation between software depending on the nature of the deliverable, one thing will always be vital to ensuring ROI, and that's quality. The term "quality" is somewhat malleable in the sense that its meaning can change depending on the goal of the application. Nevertheless, establishing metrics for what quality is, and then proving that it has been delivered is what QA management is all about (hence the "quality" in quality assurance). In application development lifecycle management, QA is achieved through testing.

Test management is therefore vital to guaranteeing ROI. And it goes without saying that anything that helps guarantee ROI is a priority.