Manual vs. Automated Software Testing: Balancing Between the Perks and Downsides
Tags: Automation, Automated Testing, Continuous Delivery, Software Development, Manual Testing

Originally published on the Infopulse blog.

The traditional approaches to software delivery were never designed to deal with the ever-evolving environment businesses are now facing. Agile development and Continuous Delivery (CD) are the aspirational goals of many companies today. However, such operational transformations do require a holistic and balanced approach.

CD is hardly possible without a deeper level of automation. While software development practices are catching up, testing often becomes an operational bottleneck to increased efficiency through increased automation. The manual vs automated software testing debate isn’t new. And despite all the transformations, both approaches have their merit and place in today’s software development process.

This post offers a deep level overview of what is automated testing in software testing and how to do manual testing the right way in the age of DevOps and Continuous Development.

What is Manual Testing?

Manual testing is performed by QA engineers without the usage of any tools for automating the tests execution. Different types of case tests are created manually to identify possible flaws in the software code, as well as product design. In most cases, manual testing is not optional as every application must be checked “by hand” before any automation can take place. Despite being quite a time- and effort-demanding, manual testing remains popular among businesses. Per a recent industry survey, 42% of companies indicated that their testing activities are “mostly” or “entirely” manual.

However, certain software testing tools for manual testing can be used to speed up and improve the effectiveness of test coverage. Some of the popular manual testing tools are Postman, SoapUI, and Chrome Dev Tools. Though, these are also used in automated testing.

The Advantages of Manual Testing

Less set up time and resources required to begin productive manual testing.

Includes the assessment of overall User Experience (UX) e.g. when it comes to design elements, the convenience of navigation, etc.

Applicable to both small and large projects.

Greater flexibility: you can change the course of testing in the middle of a test run to assess a certain element that was not previously considered.

Manual testing is imperative to check for automation feasibility.

Types of Manual Testing

Black Box Testing

White Box Testing

Exploratory Testing

Integration Testing

System Testing

Acceptance Testing

What is Automated Testing?

As the name indicates, automated software testing assumes the use of tools to execute pre-scripted test case suites. The test results are sent for further programmatic analysis and the QA specialist can benchmark the expected vs. actual test results and review detailed reports.

However, QA engineers are not directly involved in the tests execution. They only develop and set up test cases at the preparation stage and assess the testing outcomes. Automated testing largely improves the ROI of QA as it’s aimed at reducing the number of test cases required to be run manually and repeatedly during a large project.

It is important, however, to understand the difference between automated testing and test automation.

Automated testing assumes the usage of automation testing tools to perform specific tests instead of running them manually every single time. However, this process does not assume the complete exclusion of human specialists and 100% reliance on technology for testing.

assumes the usage of automation testing tools to perform specific tests instead of running them manually every single time. However, this process does not assume the complete exclusion of human specialists and 100% reliance on technology for testing. Test automation is the programmed execution of predefined test cases — a set of manually defined algorithmic checks that evaluate a specific element of the software.

In the course of this post, we’ll dwell on test automation in particular, and how it should co-exist and supplement manual software testing.

What Are the Benefits of Automated Testing?

Automated testing is approx. 70% faster than manual testing, meaning that you can run more tests to ensure better code quality and achieve faster time to market.

Earlier bug discovery. Fixing a bug identified during Beta Testing stage is 4 times more expensive and time-consuming to fix than the one found on the Unit Testing stage.

Automation ensures wider coverage of all the application elements. It allows businesses to attain greater consistency when it comes to coverage.

Test automation is also reusable and can be deployed multiple times at different stages of the software development life cycle. For instance, automated regression checks can be performed after each build to ensure higher product quality.

Increased team efficiency and morale.

Easy and comprehensive reporting.

Why Test Automation is Essential for Continuous Delivery and Continuous Testing

As more companies embrace DevOps and continuous delivery model, new approaches to testing become necessary. CD framework assumes that your software components are always in the deployment-ready state, meaning that you can no longer postpone testing to the very end of your project. A software change has to continuously move from Development to Testing to Deployment — and that’s where continuous testing comes as an essential measure.