Automated testing or manual testing- what’s good for your tech startup

Developing a product for your startup seems to be the last laugh.

Automated testing or manual testing- what’s good for your tech startup

Developing a product for your startup seems to be the last laugh.

You have finally turned your ideas into a great product. Marketing strategies are now on your card. A grand launch of the BETA version of your product is just couple of days’ away.

Let’s spend some quality time with the coffee and the sunset.

Sure, you can. But, before that, would you like to answer few questions, for the benefit of your startup-

  • Have you tested the product yet?
  • Are you sure there is no blind spot?
  • Is your product ticking all the boxes and addressing ALL the problems that you have promised to resolve?

If you want to create disruption and sustain your tech startup not just for days or months but decades and beyond, “Testing” must be an integral part of your operation.

Once skipped, the consequences will be bitter-

  • Loss of money and revenue
  • Damage to your reputation (sigh !!! A startup is starting with negative feedback)
  • Zero customer confidence and mistrust among the users

IBM states that the cost of errors increases dramatically as your software solution progresses

through the development cycle. If you catch errors after release, their cost can be 30 times higher than if you discover them during the early stages.

Thus it is crucial to catch bugs as early as possible. So, for a software, web and mobile application, testing is an indispensable process.

Though that’s not a news anymore. Pain and puzzle is-

  • How will you test your product?
  • Will it be manual or automated?

Let’s dive deep into the debate where we will try to understand the pulse of both the framework and do our best to remain neutral. Aye!

Why should you adopt manual testing for your startup?

  • Unmatched UI testing. Even in the age of all big machine learning promises, there is no replacement for human eyes, hands, brain and heart to know the user-experience of the product. Getting visual feedback takes your testing a notch higher.
  • Testing process is hassle-free here. No need to go for rigorous planning and time-consuming software setup.
  • Manual testing blends technical expertise to real world testing and helps to collect real world experiences and loopholes. A button or even a background color can change the entire game. Testing by humans help to detect them and opens up the process of improvement.
  • Flexible process as it is free from the hectic software set-up and gives you the option to run the process whenever you feel to.
  • Fit for your startup budget. In your bootstrapping days, your hands are tied. So, manual testing with all the good points in bag emerges as your cup of tea. Delicious and comforting, we must say.

Is Manual testing the best option for your startup?

  • Prone to human error. That’s a bitter irony. However, if you do not have enough expertise on board or dealing with huge workload with one lone warrior/ developer, outcome of testing will be a complete failure.
  • Often the manual testing is a redundant process for two primary reasons-
  1. It is not reusable. If you predict a lot of changes and make updates to your app in the future, you have to begin your testing process from the scratch to ensure no new changes has affected the existing system.
  2. In every testing, there is a series of basic checking which is a redundant process in a large-scale project.

So, few hits and few miss. Can automated testing be your ideal match? Time to wear your magnifying glass-

Pros of automated testing:

  • Best option to evaluate product performance. In automated testing the scripts go deep down the product and catch bugs that manual testing might miss.
  • Reduces the possibilities of human error.
  • More organized and documentation process is cut-to-the-chase.
  • Great help for products which are complex and need time-consuming test.
  • Indispensable for case-specific test.
  • Automated test software is reusable which means the software directory can be upgraded and keep up-to-date with each change.

Cons of automated testing:

  • No UI feedback.There will be less chance of getting human feedback on your product. How one user will interact with the product- this will remain in dark with the automation testing.
  • Will cost more than dime. The automated testing tools are pricey and comes with the package riddles.
  • Often the novice entrepreneurs fail to select the perfect package for him ending with poor testing and zero fruitful feedback to improve the product.

At this point, we can not just conclude with a clear winner between manual or automated testing straight off the bat.

Both manual and automated testing have their fair share of boons and banes. If the better user-experience gives the “Manual testing” extra brownies, the “Automated testing” helps the tech startup to understand their product performance from the core.

From our experience, we have learned the hard truth and do not discriminate between two. We do not come with a pre-scheduled checklist for our benefits.

To evaluate the MVP or to test the end product, we go deep inside the idea and understand the goal first to unleash all our expertise to choose a right step and ensure the final output of your idea gets the best evaluation.

Wake up and forget your rigid stance. While others are busy to decide the best testing strategy, you have a chance to play the trump card and showcase a perfect product powered by smart choice and smart testing.