Quality Assurance (QA) is one of the integral parts of software development process. Every component and piece of a software module has to pass through quality assurance before they are deployed. It is the duty of the QA team to ask right questions, and communicate issues and bugs to developers and product owners, so that they can be fixed quickly. However, there are diverse people with different skill sets and roles in a project team that present communication challenges to QA, most notably coding abilities. Having screenshots and screenshots analysis tools in place help to overcome the communication challenges and make the process effective and efficient.
Communication is crucial to reinforce effectiveness. As a picture tells a thousand words, explanatory screenshot tells a million. Screenshots help people learn, they grab attention and explain tough concepts in simpler manner. Embedding a screenshot analysis tool for quality assurance in a development process make it easier for QA team to communicate issues with the project team and stakeholders; developers, managers, and even support, marketing, and sales engineering. This helps to make the process seamless by reducing the communication friction and improving work efficiency.
One Screenshot is Worth a Thousand Assertions
No wonder that increasing number of companies have started to utilize visual testing tools, not only to enhance QA and CI-CD processes, but also to improve internal communication.
Instead using complex error logs, advanced visual testing tools, such as Applitools, offer stakeholders simple image comparisons that pinpoints them to the issues that require attention, helping to cut down on miscommunication as well as streamline operations for reporting bugs and other issues related to quality assurance.
Since explanatory screenshots are quite efficient in describing all sorts of issues in application during development process, visual testing tools can eliminate to and fro email chains that are time consuming and confusing.
In addition, another major benefit to using automated visual testing solutions, such as Applitools, over manual and traditional bug reporting system, is the additional background information provided by it. Along with annotated screenshots, one has ability to access operating system and browser specifics for the individual clients. Information like this is important for quality assurance team members to reproduce issues on their own systems as required.
Cloud-based solutions also enable any team member to access the visual testing dashboard – anywhere, any time – this instant collaboration capability substantially reduces response time across the board.
Bottom Line
Visual testing tools provide a competitive advantage to companies, by improving internal and external communications and contributing to a smoother development process. With tools that assist QA team in communicating effectively with the rest of the R&D team, the company can increase team cohesion, motivate, improve confidence, and in the meanwhile scale up companies’ products, time-to-market and overall quality to the next level.
To read more about Applitools’ visual UI testing and Application Visual Management (AVM) solutions, check out the resources section on the Applitools website. To get started with Applitools, request a demo or sign up for a free Applitools account.
