Software QA basics

Software testing can be categorized or organized into different processes or parts depending on the stage at which it is being performed.

Smoke/ Sanity Testing - Usually in the initial/ end stage of product development, when the product is being newly built or about to be launched. Perform a basic test to see if the software is loading/ starting/ launching depending on the software. Simple tests can include testing login or a basic check with most common functionalities are up and working fine.

Functional testing - test the software against the requirements in the product development cycle or in the sprints in the Agile methodology. This includes writing of the manual test cases before the feature/ requirement is ready and running the manual test cases once the feature is ready. If time permits, automated test cases can be added and run instead or both. These test cases can be vetted and organized for regression testing as well.

Regression testing - test cases written/ developed during the functional testing phase are organized and run before the release of the feature/ the whole product itself. This is done usually before the launch of the feature or the product to make sure that subsequent features added to the software has not introduced any bugs or issues.

Priority testing - testing is done when you have large suite of regression tests. Now, say a single feature is developed and the whole regression suite need not be run. A traceability matrix can be prepared mapping each of the testcases to its features. Only the testcases matching to its feature can be run. Ambiguously testcases related to a particular feature can also be run from the regression suite which may depend on the tester's knowledge and experience of the test cases.