Sometimes a software tester has to take a position of “watchful waiting”. This is a method when the specialist becomes an observer and doesn’t interfere in testing process.
During the “watchful waiting” you can define whether the program needs some special intervention or extra testing tools. The motto of this method is “watch and wait”.
If KPI monitoring tools find a mistake they are obliged to inform the tester about it.
It happens that the method of “watchful waiting” takes a great deal of time so the tester is advised to sit tight and see how the situation develops. What’s going to happen during the “watchful waiting”? Much of it depends on what program is tested and what testing tools are used.
What Happens During the Process of “Watchful Waiting”:
- Response-time of the system on the output and input signals. Measuring system of the response-time is an important way to assess the correct work of the tested program. If there are some fails or wrong operations occur the tester has an opportunity to block the program quickly, to arrange the restoring of data and to protect other programs and applications.
The detected failures in the testing process can be a result of the test environment’s behavior. The first appearance of the defect in the system, its location, the time of failure and the reasons for its occurrence should be fixed. It will help to improve the testing process in future. Measurement of time allows you to select one of the types of tests: automated testing, load testing, security testing, etc.
- Specialist observes the behavior of the application under load. In this case tester can evaluate the productivity and efficiency of the application and also optimize its work including setting up servers and code optimization. Specialist checks if there are some memory leaks, if all settings work correctly, etc. The priority here is not the response-time, but the fact that the system hasn’t “crashed”.
- Tester observes all the errors that occur during the testing process. Time of occurrence, the error description and suggestions on how to change the situation for the better should be fixed. Traditionally the fixing phase is designed such that it is completed at any of the following situations: failure of compiling, the test failure, problems with test environment. In other cases fixing phase continues and generates a report about results.
In any software testing company the purpose of real-time analysis is to provide the understanding of occurred problems and requirements for their solution by developers, customers and other stakeholders. During the real-time analysis “rules of the game” for all members of the testing team are created.
This type of analysis plays an important role in the whole process of testing. If tester doesn’t identify inconsistencies of tested program with stated requirements in time, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to fix the error and to restore the correct work of the program.