How do you test your software project before launch?

Testing a software project before launch is a crucial step to ensure it functions properly and meets the desired quality standards. Here is my strategy. 1. Unit Testing: Check individual components. 2. Integration Testing: Ensure components work together. 3. Functional Testing: Verify functions meet requirements. 4. User Acceptance Testing (UAT): End-user validation. 5. Performance, Security, Compatibility Testing. 6. Usability and Accessibility Testing: Evaluate user experience and accessibility. 7. Stress and Deployment Testing: Check under extreme conditions and in deployment. 8. Feedback and Monitoring. 9. Documentation Verification: Confirm documentation accuracy. 10. Security Audit: Review security measures.

Have a clear outcome evaluation - metrics strategy. The qa role should Have a voice in the prioritization process at the same level of engineering, design and ownership. Having a clear definition of ready that involves testability. That serves my teams ... as start points.

Before I set test objectives and criteria, I gather information on the big why and big what, and whenever possible, big when. I need to understand the bigger picture and how this project fits. I learn what resources (time, money, software, and hardware) and people are available. Then, I collaborate with my team to identify areas of the project with the most risk. That's where most of the testing will focus. Because resources are always limited, it's important to be both effective and efficient. A risk-based approach is invaluable there. From there, a test strategy begins to unfold: expectations, acceptance criteria, test coverage, methods to use, etc.

Keep in mind that customer value requires testable well defined functional and non functional requirements. Add to this the necessary metrics with all logs that will cause tons of test results data that must be sorted out. Prepare the most extensible but concise possible automated test cases within your code so the building and deploying infrastructure will do it swiftly. Set primary deploy to pre-operational or test-operational environment. Prepare a test result analysis routine to sort out and classify accordingly, all test logs and test deliverables with automatic comparison and evaluation in mind. Evaluate the deploy strategy, if operational deploy need to step up over a small customer sample before full launch.

The choice of testing methods and tools depends on factors such as the nature of the project, technology stack, development methodology, team preferences or industry type. It's often beneficial to have a mix of manual and automated testing approaches to ensure comprehensive test coverage.

Context is the biggest driver in deciding which testing methods to use. However, there are some that I always recommend and utilize. The first is table-top, or static analysis, of requirements. Sometimes referred to as "shift left". Try to capture bugs as early as requirements and design. It's cheaper. The second one is unit tests. Unit tests have huge ROIs in the later stages of a project's lifecycle. Changes can be validated quickly using unit tests. They're fast and typically part of CI/CD. The last one is user acceptance testing (UAT). Have a human poke around. Is the UX good? Are there any friction points? Does the application, or system, give adequate feedback? Is documentation useful?

One practice that has consistently proven its worth is Test-Driven Development, or TDD. With TDD, you start with a clear test, write code to meet that test, and continually evaluate and refine until your software aligns perfectly with your expectations. It's a process of continuous experimentation, learning, and refinement for creating robust, high-quality software. Begin by writing the smallest, simplest test that will guide your code. This ensures that your focus remains on incremental progress and that your tests are meaningful. In general: Write a failing test, then make it pass with code, and finally, refactor your code to improve its quality without changing functionality. Repeat this cycle for each new feature or improvement.

Actually I disagree with the order here. Here's how I approach it: First, identify test goals based on context. Then, plan and prepare test cases. Focus on the riskiest parts of the application first. Then, pick test methods and data. Why this order? Because test cases can be run using a variety of methods. The test cases should be driven by goals, not methods.

Yes, and for the sake of sanity, try to capture steps to reproduce automatically. Logs can contain useful information, but sometimes they miss crucial data. Stack traces can be rough. And people tend to forget exactly what they did to uncover issues. A recorder of some sort can help with all of that. If configured well enough, it can provide a good foundation for understanding root causes of issues. Tie test runs with version history. Help folks understand when something is broken and why. The sooner in the lifecycle, the better. Lastly, remove obsolete tests. No one likes false positives (or negatives).