Speed vs. Quality in Software Testing

How does test quality affect speed, and vice versa, and could finding the balance between the two be the key to keeping customers and the business happy?

Software testing requires striking a balance in determining when an application is good enough for customers and getting it in their hands as quickly as possible. Many software testing teams struggle daily with testing faster without cutting quality or minimizing the user experience. As a tester, you’re constantly under the gun to get testing done faster without missing any defects. Testers describe their position as being between a rock and a hard place.

Customers need quality application code and the business needs to win the market, so releases must be timely and of high quality. However, that’s often difficult to do based on resources, testing volume and release deadlines. Many times, testing feels like a tug of war between demanding quality in a product and the business needing to release software to gain sales. The problem is that development teams and testers need both speed and quality for optimal results.

This article describes speed and quality and how striking a balance between the two is the ultimate goal to keep customers and the business happy.

Defining Speed & Quality

What is testing speed? Testing speed is the time the testing team takes to test an iteration or sprint’s worth of work before the developers deploy the build to a production server. For testing, speed is impacted by development work progress and quality. The higher the quality of coding, the fewer new defects are generated. Test server and data access and reliability also impact testing speed. Many testing teams struggle to keep testing environments updated to manage ongoing testing.

Other factors impacting testing speed:

• Build deployments to test servers
• The number of testers and workload distribution
• Effective product management and sprint planning
• Reliable requirements or well-defined user stories
• Testing tool quality and efficiency
• Ability for testers to focus on testing a single sprint release

Not to make excuses, but in some testing teams, the amount of testing significantly outweighs the available resources. Many times testers are stretched in more than one direction and cannot focus solely on a sprint release. Managing testing resources efficiently includes prioritizing test execution or reducing test coverage.

Test automation provides scalable speed as long as the builds and data align so false failures do not occur. Automated tests are quick to run but also quick to fail if the test environment, data or build is not aligned correctly. Every automated script failure requires a tester to review and validate if the failure is a new defect, a script or an environmental issue.

In software testing, what does quality mean? Quality for software testers means how well the application meets a customer’s needs. High-quality applications allow customers to perform work tasks without creating errors.

Quality means efficiency and accuracy. When customers find defects or errors that prevent work from getting done, the user experience suffers. Quality for testing teams means the customers get the best experience possible and enables them to reach their goal and perform work efficiently and accurately.

Choosing a Speed-First Approach

Speed over quality can be a valid approach when release speed is the primary goal for the development team. Agile teams focus on speed when the application is new and has few competitors. Applications may be temporary or meant only for quick hits on social media or for entertainment purposes only. Many development teams working on maintenance for older applications may also put speed over quality.

The advantages of choosing a speed-first approach include:

• Customers receive tested builds rapidly
• Defect fixes push to the next build automatically
• Applications are active in the market on release

Disadvantages include the possibility of poor customer satisfaction levels, frequent defect fixes and large, ongoing tech debt loads.

Choosing Quality First

Development teams should always prioritize quality over speed when creating applications that use, save or manage sensitive personal data, are highly integrated or are required to satisfy regulatory standards. When an application cannot fail, then quality must come first. For example, applications built for financials, healthcare, retail, IoT and aerospace.

When teams prioritize quality over speed, it doesn’t mean testing takes as long as the team wants. Focusing on quality still requires testing teams to perform efficiently, and customers still want timely releases. The only difference is quality comes first. Customers aren’t tolerant of errors, which can create compliance issues with serious legal or financial implications. QA testing teams define and create efficient test practices that save time and keep the focus on application quality. A well-managed Agile team can still deliver high-quality applications at speed.

Applications that use sensitive or private data also require robust security. Many complex applications also require backup and failover systems to prevent a crash or extended system disconnection. In these cases, testing teams need to include security testing as well as testing each failover system to validate it functions as expected.

Advantages of a quality-first approach include:

• Releases with fewer defects
• High usability and positive customer experiences
• Fewer surprises on deployment from security or integrated system issues

The disadvantages of putting quality first are that testing cycles may take longer, and release dates must be flexible.

The Best Approach Is Balance

Balancing speed and quality is possible for testing teams. With a well-designed test strategy and QA processes that support both quality and speed, testing teams can balance speed and quality effectively. A QA tester’s role is vital because testing creates the balance between speed and quality for Agile development teams and organizations. Teams may use a DevOps or QAOps approach or Agile testing and development methods that help balance quality with delivery speed.

For example, testing teams increase speed by developing suites of valid automated tests and grouping tests into test suites that ensure each function is tested at least once. Effective test development and execution management help teams test an application quickly by reducing duplicate work. Many testing teams rely solely on test automation suites paired with on-the-fly manual exploratory testing. Adopting other Agile testing practices helps when testers are trained and the methodologies are implemented with proper planning.

Development teams that emphasize creativity and practice collaborative communication can improve task completion speeds. Solid communication between developers and QA testers also significantly improves testing and development outcomes. When quality is built into code and testing, it’s far less likely critical defects slip through to production regardless of the release schedule.

Speed versus quality is a long-running debate in software development. Both approaches are valid depending on the intended customer and how they respond to quality or delivery speed issues. Nearly every software development team and tester wants to achieve realistic release dates with quality code. It’s rare for a team to look forward to managing customer complaints or fixing and retesting defects unless necessary.

The best answer for customers and application providers is to create a balance using QA testing teams. Balancing speed and quality is an inherent part of software testing. Testers working within Agile development teams can create thorough and efficient practices that balance quality and speed. Set up your application for success by delivering on both with a balanced approach.