User Perspective: Key for Software QA Testers to Ensure End User Satisfaction

With the growth and development of technology, complexities have also risen simultaneously in the IT field. Software development processes are now more complicated, which makes it challenging to ensure end user satisfaction at all stages. User expectations, likewise, have evolved - making it very difficult to pin down the overall standard set of elements that can be included within a given project. As a result, QA (Quality Assurance) professionals have to identify themselves as users and further evaluate all the applications based on real-time requirements.

Nonetheless, this becomes difficult at times as there are several considerations that need to be addressed during the process of testing any application for individuals. There are some critical factors that can help QA professionals to test according to the perspective of users to make sure they can deliver 100 percent end-user satisfaction. With proper QA training, these skills can be improved as well.

Important Factors to Consider

Detailed Job Description

One of the biggest components in testing platform is the role of an individual in a company. Employees generally approach an application in different ways based on their needs, which is very important for software QA testers to understand. QA training helps develop these skills in testers. For instance, an individual with a background in finance and another with a membership in marketing can use the program extensively; whereas they both could use any of the features of this app, it is unlikely that both of them can leverage the same tools offered by the software.

Knowing what end-users want to do and what they need, this system can create a proactive mindset with respect to the features and requirements, acceptable behavior, reviews, interactions, interoperability, and operational inconsistencies.

The job of a person may regulate the technicality of the program and its interaction with the same. If the software app has been developed for the company, it should be more user-friendly than the one designed for IT staff. In addition, the interface shouldn’t be reflecting an individual’s capabilities. It should ensure that all users can easily access resources they want, anywhere and anytime.

Different Platforms

Mobile devices are relatively new as concepts that have existed for a decade. However, the hardware and technology of mobile platforms have changed how people use and operate mobile devices and what is actually expected from their workplace. IT consumerization is one major aspect today for which software testers and QA professionals should be prepared. The richest source of Smartphones, for instance, should be supported and provisions in the mobile enterprise of today’s time.

With the accessibility feature of mobile apps, there’s a potential security threat and several vulnerabilities that software testers should be able to handle and mitigate. This situation becomes dire because more than 91% of all respondents can now leverage their Smartphones (used for work) for their personal use too. However, only 51% have their security policies with respect to such activities. While Symantec recommended that regular updates should be installed to make sure all devices are protected adequately and appropriately, results are yet to manifest.

Finding Ways to Break the Apps

Users are usually prone to human errors, which keep happening. However, that doesn’t mean that apps should not function appropriately due to such mistakes. Experts have suggested that it is best to attempt to break a program on behalf of users by inserting some values that generally make no sense. But, it can definitely help gauge how that software responds and what are the type of errors that may occur. QA testers can use the obtained information for creating conditions for those situations by redirecting users to necessary resources in case of a misstep, and steps can be recorded in defect backlog.

For a successful app, software testers should think from the users’ point of view.