A plethora of mobile app development platforms can turn your ideas into awesome apps and that’s what driving the mobility hype these days.
Quite needless to quote but yes, every enterprise wants its product to stand out in this ocean of mobile applications.
Quality assurance, or simply said QA, is an essential aspect of the application development. Often used interchangeably with testing though they are different terms, QA is a process that is neatly integrated into the development cycle while testing is a process taking place after the application has been coded.
Here’s how you must kick-start to ensure a faultless stint at application QA.
Planning
Needless to say, planning is an important factor. It is the starting step towards building a successful mobile application and quality has to be ensured here. No developer can construct a good application unless his/her idea with respect to the application is clear.
These ideas and suggestions, if documented properly, will go a long way. That is, the feasibility of the ideas can be verified beforehand. Making choices like whether the application is going to be a native one or a web application, etc. have to be done beforehand.
Identification of tasks, allocation of resources, time estimation, everything has to be done in a systematic way.
Reconsidering the traditional role of QA
QA has to be integrated into every stage of the application development process. They are not testers who will conduct their quality tests after the application has been written.
Listening to your customers and paying attention to what experience they have held with the products can help building a good application as ultimately, it is the customers we are providing services to.
QA experts need to know how to code, for they can find flaws in the code before these flaws pave their path from paper to code. QA has got to be an integral part of every step of the development process, be it related to coding or customer feedback and interaction.
Simplicity in design and UI
App store vendors like Apple and Google provide guidelines for the application’s design and they are not just guidelines but mandatory ones to be followed, for they have to be uploaded to the store. The design should have a convenient user interface and simple navigation for the end customers.
This is the main quality of a mobile application that makes an application rank among the best. Users usually do not bounce back to your application if they do not understand the interface. So, a simple interface will attract them and not tempt them to go look for a similar application that provides a simple interface.
Security
Imagine you have a healthcare-related or a mobile device management-related application. The security of the content is a very important factor in such applications.
Where data confidentiality has to be taken into account, like the ones we talked about above, security is a key factor to be taken care of. Data security is a highly talked of IoT trend. Security should be one of the primary aspects to be discussed with your development team.
Offline working capability
There are a lot of mobile applications that require an active connection to work. However, it must not be an application that doesn’t work without a web connection It should have the offline working capability. So, the application should provide access to content and features in offline mode, even in corporate systems, however complex they are.
Analyzing usage data
Feedback from users is necessary and it helps report bugs. Fixing of these bugs is very essential. But, if you have to make a choice like, which one to fix first, what helps make this choice? Well, usage data solves this problem.
Google Analytics or any other tool that you like can provide the usage data for you. It can give you a lot of information. For example, if you have a bug in a feature that is rarely used, it can be fixed later.
Remember, users, are not to be ignored. If a user reports a bug, it has to be immediately prioritized.
Standards are vital
There is a bunch of successful practices that have been followed by the industry experts over decades. Apart from that, this help streamlines the work process, allowing for an easier communication between teams and team members.
There has to be a set of rules to abide by. Now, development will involve a lot of creative work, and if unnecessary bounds are provided to the developers, the process may be inhibited.
Neither would you want them working out of all bounds? So, there has to be a balance to maintain between providing them creative liberties and laying a set of ground rules to follow while at work.
The standards should pose necessary minimum but still need to be enforced in order to avoid any unnecessary risks in the future.
Performance and Regression Testing
In-depth performance testing is something to be insured properly. Performance tests are to be run as soon as the app is stable, considering all the possible risks beforehand. It has to be reasonable.
For example, adding a new button does not invite testing unless it may affect the performance of the application.
Running regression tests is important. It is usually a final testing phase which may signal the release of the application. This is the point when there is no major change in development and the whole process is validated.
An application is like a tree. If a certain branch is affected, all the branches that fall below need to be tested, hence inviting additional testing.
Documentation
It is never obvious what a certain feature does. So, every feature must be documented. Every part of the application needs to be thoroughly documented so that the specialists find it easy to understand.
Clear, concise and comprehensive documentation of the projects helps keep a track of the development. It makes development and maintenance of the application or the project easy. It can prove to be a worthy investment in a project.
Communication can be a boon
Remember that it is people who are writing codes. Clear communication is a key to success. Generally, in order to save time, quality communication looks like a priority put aside. There are a variety of people in a team, all of them with their own visions, skill sets, and ideas.
A clear and constructive communication can be a boon none other can match. It can take the application to a whole new level. This helps to make sure that everyone is on the same page.