What are Some of the Tools and Techniques That You Use to Measure and Improve Quality Performance?

In the modern app development market, the competition between developing companies has been steeply rising. So, to maintain its position in this market, it is not only important to quickly deliver the application but also crucial to maintain its quality. So, to uphold all these standards, app-developing companies must implement various modern technologies like automation testing, end-to-end testing and, regression testing. They also need to implement agile methodologies to improve the collaboration between the application development and testing teams. Due to this collaboration, they can quickly detect and remove the bugs from the core framework of the app.

With this article, we will explain some of the most effective tools and techniques that developers and testers can use to measure and improve the quality performance of the application development project. We will also understand some of the most important practices they can implement in this process.

Reasons to Implement Quality Performance Testing

While testing modern apps, the developers must understand the importance of UI elements. Using the user interface elements, the application developers can create a compatibility layer so that the end users can communicate with the core infrastructure of the app. The user interface elements will not only allow the end users to navigate through the app interface but will also allow them to perform the basic functions. Some of the most important user interface elements include menu bars, forms to fill up, and other intractable media elements.

Since modern apps are compatible with multiple devices like smartphones, tablets, and even smart watches, quality assurance testing becomes a critical part of the application development process. This is because using quality assurance test cases, the developers can ensure that all the UI elements not only retain their position but are also functional at all instances.  The following reasons will justify the importance of implementing proper quality assurance measures in the testing environment:

• Better Implementation of the App UI: Since quality assurance test cases help the application developers to ensure that all the user interface elements are compatible with multiple display resolutions and other hardware configurations, it helps maintain the stability of the UI. Moreover, the proper implementation of quality assurance test cases can help the app developers to ensure that at least the basic functionality of the application is available in all instances. In the modern software development industry, we all can agree that the proper placement of the UI elements has a crucial role in implementing user satisfaction and expanding the possible market for the company.

• Managing the Company Time and Resources: While implementing quality assurance testing, the app developers can use continuous integration to improve the synchronization and collaboration between the development and testing teams of the app company. This process also helps to massively save a lot of company time and resources as the bugs are detected at the early stages of the development process. Moreover, quality assurance testing helps to ensure that all the elements and functionalities of the app are completely devoid of errors and there isn’t any possibility of rollback after the production phase.

• Implementation of Continuous Improvement: While implementing quality assurance testing, the app developing companies can constantly integrate all the recent market trends and innovations in the segment of application development and testing. So, quality assurance testing has a crucial role in ensuring that app-developing companies can comply with all the recent market standards and ensure that they are providing the best end-user experience to their customers. It is one of the most important factors in creating a positive image for the company and constantly growing in this competitive segment of the industry.

• Integration of Crucial Certifications: Modern applications store a lot of sensitive user information including their transaction details and other personal data. So, application developers and testers need to use quality assurance test cases for implementing all the required certifications for guaranteeing user privacy and data security. In most countries, this practice has become mandatory to avoid legal complications or a complete ban on the application in a worst-case scenario. Moreover, it also helps to gain additional trust from the customers and create a loyal user base.

Tools and Techniques for Measuring and Improving Quality Performance

The process of improving quality performance involves the integration of various tools and techniques for analyzing, implementing, and enhancing the performance of the application testing environment. To facilitate this knowledge for new automation testers and developers, we have mentioned some of the most important tools and techniques that can help them achieve this goal:

1. Quality Management Tools

• Six Sigma: This is a data-driven methodology that aims to improve the quality by reducing variations and defects in the process. It also implements some additional practices like defining measures, analyzing, improving, and controlling for problem-solving and implementation of various changes in the application infrastructure.

• Plan-Do-Check-Act: Using this cycle, the developers can plan the improvement, implement it, and check the results after the implementation process. This tool also allows the application developers to adjust and continue the improvement of the application. So, it is highly effective when the application developers are working on certain applications that require continuous improvement and continuous learning. 

• Quality Function Deployment: Using this method, the application developers can analyze the customer needs and expectations. Based on this analysis, the developers can also implement these changes into the product or the service specifications. So, in simple terms, we can say that this method is primarily designed to ensure that the application can meet the current requirements or expectations of the target audience. During this process, the app developer should also consider integrating some of the top market trends and innovations in the app. 

2. Tools for Continuous Improvement:

• 5 Whys: It implements a technique that involves drilling down the root cause of a problem by repeatedly asking “why”. The core framework of this tool will continue to repeat this process until the fundamental causes for the error are determined. Then the app developers can implement the required debugging process to solve this error and ensure that the core frame of the app is stable enough for the end users.

• Gemba Walks: It involves directly observing all the processes in the app development and testing process. While observing, the developers and testers can use this tool to continuously collect data for identifying core areas for improvement. This tool also provides the option of sharing this information with other members of the application development team and gathering valuable feedback from senior company managers and other peer staff.

3. Total Quality Management Techniques

• Implementation of Benchmarking: To properly analyze the impact of various tools in the quality performance process, the application developers need to implement a benchmarking technique. This technique involves measuring the performance of the application before the tools are implemented in the development cycle. Then, the app developers can use this information to compare the after results and analyze how the application behavior has changed with all the new integrations. During this process, it is also important to analyze the stability of the application infrastructure to ensure that it can be forwarded to the production phase.

• Involving the Employee and Training them: To properly utilize the full potential of all the modern tools and platforms, the companies must invest a respectable amount of time in training the new quality trainers. This training program should also include multiple seminars, workshops, and sample testing sessions so that the developers can get accustomed to all the new features and methods of these tools. The company can also invest in a feedback loop to gain substantial information about the effectiveness of the training program and implement changes if necessary.

• Use of Advanced Testing Techniques: To improve the effectiveness of modern quality testing, application developers can use advanced test cases like regression testing. This process understands how the new elements in the application infrastructure impact the performance of the existing elements. In certain cases, the new elements can cause the older elements to malfunction, or in a worst-case scenario, it can cause the complete crash of the application infrastructure. The app developers can also integrate automation testing with regression testing to ensure that the system can automatically initiate the test cases after every significant update to the source code.

• Use Of Cloud Platforms: Using cloud platforms, the application developers can perform automated quality assurance test cases on thousands of real devices using multiple remote servers. The testers can access these servers from anywhere in the world and also run the test cases on hundreds of outdated devices to improve the application compatibility. Various modern cloud platforms like LambdaTest allow the developers to integrate advanced processes like artificial intelligence for better orchestrating the test instances. It also has additional features like a live activity log, a native bug tracker, and support for parallel test execution.

We also suggest that the app developers and quality assurance professionals maintain a test plan that will help them guide them throughout the testing process. This plan will also help maintain basic information about some of the most efficient troubleshooting steps that might be useful during the application development life cycle. While creating this plan, it is important to include all the members of the app development company.

Measuring and improving quality performance involves a combination of statistical tools, management systems, and methodologies. The tester should also understand the tool selection will depend on the industry, specific content, and nature of the quality issues that are being addressed. So, app testing organizations need to use a combination of multiple tools and methodologies to continuously enhance their quality performance techniques. During this process, it is also important to understand the specific expertise of the developers and their niche in app testing.

The Conclusive Views

In this article, we discussed some of the most effective tools and techniques that can help developers measure and improve the quality performance of the application development project. It is also important to understand that automation testing is one of the most important parameters that play a crucial role in the effectiveness of the modern testing environment.

The developer should also try to keep their knowledge updated regarding all the recent trends and innovations in the segment of automation testing. Monitoring the target audience will reveal some of the most crucial factors about their requirements that can help expand the company’s reach. Read more