What Not to Test and When to Stop Testing?

1. What Not to Test

When there’s a lot to test but not enough money or time, the testing team’s biggest challenge is deciding what to test and what to leave out. There are many potential testing methods and numerous test cases to perform if the project is very complex and requires a lot of functionality, but if you actually cannot afford to do all of them, you must first consider carefully what would be the most and least relevant in your product. Most possibly, the product’s consistency, and thus its performance and benefit, would be determined by what you want to evaluate. There would be little doubt if the issue was included in testing. For example, you can’t afford to ignore the user interface in favor of checking the backing database.

When it comes to deciding what to leave out of testing, issues get a lot more complicated, because there is no one-size-fits-all solution for any project. So, as a starting point, take the following exemption requirements, which could assist you in making a sound decision.

1.1. What to avoid while doing testing:

• You need an extensive testing scope. It is normally preferable to accept each component in small doses rather than skipping one and concentrating entirely on another.
• It is preferable to include in the scenario certain test cases in which the users are most willing to connect. In other words, comes with features that overlap with user behavior. It didn’t mean if there’s a bug in a location where no one will ever see it; however, if a large number of users encounter the bug in the product’s most engaging area, it could be very costly.
• In case anything goes wrong, examine the product for the most troublesome areas. When it comes to data, the risk is greater, so this element is more critical than illustration. Again, the statutory specifications are an important factor to consider, so ensure to verify them first
• This metric is more concerned with cost-effectiveness than with effectiveness or significance. If one test case is costly to run, it makes sense to select many others which are less costly.
• Test cases that cover innovative features generate more exponential utilization than those which handle both traditional and new characteristics since both are suggested.

The key to successful testing is to make an accurate judgment before beginning. It will not be beneficial if you conduct testing without requirements . Predict your opportunities using the values measured and test software more productively!

2. When to Stop Testing

This is a common query that all testers face: when should I stop testing? The truth is that testing will never be final. We will never be able to objectively show that our software framework is error-free.

2.1. Most Common Metric used in the Software and Technology Sector goes by the statement.

• When the allocated or scheduled testing timelines might be about to end, stop the testing.
• Stop testing when all of the intended test cases have been completed and no further errors have been discovered. Both of the preceding statements are irrelevant and inconsistent, as we can fulfill the very first assertion while doing nothing, whereas the second quote is essentially pointless because it cannot guarantee the consistency of our test cases.

It’s difficult to determine the exact moment when you can halt testing. Many contemporary software systems are so complicated and operate in such an interconnected world that thorough testing is impossible.

2.2. Is it Possible to Stop Testing when all Defects have been Discovered?

The majority of software is complex and requires rigorous testing. It is not impossible to find all software flaws, but it will take an eternity. After discovering several bugs in the app, nobody can promise that it is now defect-free. There can’t be a scenario where we can comfortably state that we’ve finished checking, noticed all of the software’s flaws, and it doesn’t have any vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the aim of testing isn’t to find every single flaw in the program. The aim of software testing is to demonstrate that the software works as planned by destroying it or identifying differences between its actual and expected actions.

Since the software has an infinite number of flaws, testing it before all of them are identified is inefficient since we never realize which one is the final. To be honest, we can’t rely on discovering all of the software’s flaws to complete our testing. Testing is an endless process that will proceed until a decision is made about when and when to stop. Making the decision to stop testing has become much more difficult.

2.3. The following are the most important considerations to consider when determining when to stop testing

• When timelines, such as launch or testing time limits, have passed, stop testing.
• When all of the test cases have been performed with a certain pass percentage, the testing should come to an end.
• When the testing budget runs out, stop the testing.
• When the scope of the code and usability specifications have reached the required standard, stop testing.
• If the bug level falls below a certain threshold, the testing should be stopped.
• Whenever the beta/alpha testing time is over, stop the testing.

2.4. Monitoring the Testing Process

Testing metrics can assist testers in making better and more efficient judgments, such as when to end testing or when the software is ready for launch, how to monitor testing progress, and how to assess a product’s quality at a particular point in the testing process. The best method is to have a set set of test cases ready even before the actual test period begins. After that, monitor the testing progress by keeping track of the total number of test cases run using the indicators below, which are very useful in determining the software quality of the product.

• Percentage Finalization: (Number of Test Cases Implemented) / (Total number of test cases)
• Percentage Test cases Passed: (Number of passed test cases) / (Number of executed test cases)
• Percentage Test cases Failed: (Number of failed test cases) / (Number of executed test cases)

A test case is marked as — Failed, even if only one bug is discovered during execution; otherwise, it is marked as — Passed.

2.5. Scientific Techniques to Determine when to End Testing

2.5.1. Determination based on the number of test cases that pass or fail

• Before the test execution period, a predetermined number of test cases must be prepared.
• Execution of all test cases in every testing cycle.
• When all of the test cases have been passed, the testing process will come to an end
• Alternatively, if the percentage of failure in the previous testing period is exceedingly low, testing can be stopped.

2.5.2. Metrics-driven decision

• The Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) is calculated by calculating the average operating time before a system fails.
• Coverage measurements are calculated by keeping track of the number of directions that are carried out during experiments.
• Defect density is calculated by calculating the number of open bugs and their severity levels in relation to the size of the program, such as defects per 1000 lines of code.

2.6. Finally, Here’s How to Make a Decision

Stop Testing if:

• The code coverage is adequate.
• The average time between errors is very long.
• The defect density is extremely low.
• The number of Open Bugs with a higher magnitude is extremely low.

‘Good,’ ‘Large,’ ‘Low,’ and ‘High,’ for example, are all subjective words that differ on the particular product being evaluated. Finally, the risk of putting the application into development, as well as the threat of not doing so, should be considered.

TestDel adapt operations and resources to each customer’s needs, project specifications, and software development process because of our flexibility. To provide effective quality evaluation and prevent risks. We are strong at Waterfall Model, Kanban, Scrum, Deployment, eXtreme Programming (XP)