11 Habits That Can Save Testers Time

Time management is important for QAs as they need to test the application, communicate with the development team, and flag bugs. As a tester, I can say that we sometimes run out of time in our daily work. To help that, I have put together some tips and tricks that can save testers some valuable time 🕒

1. Planning is Paramount

A great day starts when you plan your priorities. Also, make it a habit to complete your work within a defined timeline. Be sure about whether it is necessary to do a task at a specific time, or if you can postpone it to later.

Planning should be in an organized manner like taking notes on your desktop, etc. There is a chance you may forget what you planned for the day, so it’s better to make a note of what you want to do. Planning helps save testers time based on the workload they have for the day.

2. Know When to Multitask

Multitasking doesn’t work for many testers as they lose concentration by focusing on a lot of different things. The results may seem inviting, but it is a hard and perilous path. People who multitask are sometimes far less productive compared to those who choose one task at a time.

But the sad part is, they don’t understand how it’s affecting their speed. Focus on one thing at a time and give your full attention to what you are doing. Then finish it and then start working on another task.

3. Set SMART Goals

Setting objectives and limits is difficult, but once done, you will achieve your target on time 🎯 Make sure the deadlines meet your SMART goals:

• Specific: Make your goals specific and unique from others so that you can achieve them within certain limits.
• Measurable: Set a way to measure your goals and then you can achieve them the way you expected to.
• Attainable: Pick processes that suit your schedule.
• Relevant: Check whether your objectives meet the new project’s goals and make them relevant.
• Timeline: Big objectives may take some extra time, so extend their time limit.

4. Know When to Use Teamwork

There are some tasks that can be better achieved as a team rather than doing them alone. These are the ones that require special attention and proper planning. Testers always believe that teamwork and collaboration play a major role in achieving major tasks, which ultimately leads to making things work more effectively.

5. Communication Plays a Significant Role

Communication between testers and developers should be extensive, which will save them time in the field of raising and discussing issues closely and elaborately. And not only with the developers- testers also need to communicate with other team members, like business analysts, to know what the project is all about and understand its requirements.

6. Analyze Traceability

Traceability is the ability to trace all processes, from the procurement of raw materials to the production, consumption, and disposal to clarify “when and where the product was produced and by whom”.

Creating a traceability matrix helps to track the task updates, like test cases coverage, testability, and completeness from beginning to the end ✅ Test Cases can be reviewed by the development team before they begin to deploy the code on the production site, and it reduces and saves testers time.

7. Know Your Advantages  

Know what you’re good at and where you lack knowledge. It doesn’t mean you have to reject every task you don’t understand to the fullest.

Testers try to understand tasks and their requirements by asking for a demo with other team members. By knowing your advantages and where you need to improve, you can schedule your day accordingly and not face any productivity loss.

8. Understand Your Task  

First, as a tester, you should have a clear idea of what you are working on and what it’s about. You should have the ability to explain the tasks to other team members. If you don’t understand, it can cause a struggle.

So invest some time at the beginning of tasks. Understand requirements and work on them. It will help save some time since you won’t have to struggle on understanding requirements later.

9. Avoid Repetitive Tasks

Repetitive tasks are more frustrating and time-consuming than repetitive processes 🔁 Testers spend most of their time doing the same task time and time again. If you avoid undergoing repetitive tasks, you can save time and invest it in new ones. Consider automating most of your repetitive tests, and save some time you can spend on testing new features.

10. Be Aware of the Following Points and Plan Accordingly

• Find out the significant features of your project.
• Find out which project of yours has greater value.
• What aspects of the application are significant to your customers?
• Is any part of the application volatile?
• Which part of the application has complex functionality?

11. Collaborate with Your Team Members

Be sure to maintain interactions between your team members. Sometimes, the collaboration helps in reducing time and achieving goals. It also provides real visibility and an understanding of tasks or applications from different perspectives.

You may gain ideas on how to solve issues that appear in software application functionalities, and there is a chance of discussing unnecessary tests in the application between the team members.

Conclusions

Testing is an essential part of every software application. And as it plays an important role, it is very important to manage time correctly. Hope these points helped you in understanding the critical things you can do to save time in any project ✨