The Role of Manual Testing in DevOps

According to Statista, in 2018 72% of businesses have executed DevOps. First introduced in 2009, this collection of practices is now getting momentum rapidly, forcing companies to change the way they generate software.

In a nutshell, DevOps practices have two core aims:

• To shorten the development lifecycle;
• To assure continuous delivery, not settling on products’ quality.

In terms of business, DevOps gives plenty of advantages.

Most importantly, this DevOps model helps organizations integrate a clear and effective segmentation of roles based on the theories of CI (Continuous Integration) & CD (Continuous Delivery). Indicating it embeds the right specialist in the method just at the right time; grows on the culture of collaboration between teams with a purpose to release products faster and more efficiently.

One way DevOps is assuring a shorter time to market is by steady automation of repeatable methods that otherwise may consume too many resources and time. Thus, we can say that automation is an essential element of DevOps.

Now, getting back to our topic, it is essential to stress the importance of QA in such a highly automated environment. Striving to decrease costs, time, and effort, teams often make the same mistake by concentrating too much on the effectiveness of the workflow, but not too much on the end quality of the product.

Instead, teams should keep in mind that despite all the pros of quality assurance automation, human engineers are still essential for the process. Though often underrated, manual QA still plays a significant role in DevOps and, in this blog, we will explain why.

Manual vs. Automated QA

As a software QA service provider, we employ both manual and automated testing methods in our projects. Each method has several pros and cons, as well as various purposes. Ideally, automated and manual software testing should coexist to assure maximum effectiveness and end quality.

Pros of Manual Testing Approach

1. Avoiding automation errors

Human mistakes also can take place in software testing. However, in the situation, a mistake is performed by a human specialist, he or she most likely will be able to identify it and come up with a solution that would resolve it.

However, when you employ automated testing, a machine is not able to identify an error. All it does is follow a particular set of actions pre-defined by a human.

2. Saving time

If automated testing is intended to save QA engineers’ time and resources in the initial place, how can time be amongst the pros of manual testing you may request? It is a natural concern. But, would you be shocked if we say that sometimes a manual procedure is more time and resource-efficient than automated? Well, that’s right.

To start with, it is worth saying that creating an automated test case can exercise more time and resources depending on the complexity of the software. It is not a big problem if you are planning to test lots of related products in the long run. But, if it is a one-off attempt, manual testing can be a more efficient approach.

Another case when manual testing can be performed in the DevOps environment is if a change is regularly made to the product. When changes are performed, automated tests also require to be adjusted, which can thrust back the time of release.

3. Avoiding false positives and negatives

In more complicated cases, automation testing can have higher risks of undiscovered false positives and negatives. This can be a huge stumbling piece for the QA process. That is one more case when manual testing delivers more advantages.

4. Bringing creativity and skill to the testing process

Unlike manual, automated tests always follow a designated list of commands, which implies a total absence of creativity in the process. And this is one of the greatest pros of manual testing in contrast to automated.

As for the skill, it may not create a big difference if an engineer only understands the manual testing basics. However, if you use an expert with vast knowledge in a particular field or a reliable QA testing service, their knowledge can play a significant role in discovering bugs that a machine can’t recognize.

Also Read: Manual Testing Vs Automation Testing – What Is The Difference?

The Bottom Line

Software development is a complex and ever-changing industry. Moreover, it is highly competitive. Hundreds of thousands of new products are begun every year, so the businesses’ wish to automate the development and QA cycle is fully understood. It is a good practice that decreases time, effort, and cost of quality assurance, meanwhile providing QA engineers to focus on other phases of testing. Besides, it is what helps assure a smooth and quick release of products.

However, despite the advantages of test automation, there always will be a place for a manual procedure. No matter how advanced it becomes, automation can’t yet (or may never be able to) completely replace quality assurance manual testing. After all, a human engineer is always required to evaluate the product from the user’s perspective, as well as to discover more complex and unexpected defects.

Need to implement manual testing? Think no more! TestUnity provides the testing services on-demand, serves with projects of any scale, and is ready to start with a few days’ advance notice. Choose to team up with a QA services provider like TestUnity. Our team of testing experts specializes in QA and has years of experience implementing tests with different testing software. Get in touch with a TestUnity expert today.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.