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I'm launching my digital project ? The art of acceptance, don't let any bugs slip by

Thomas Huber

1/7/2020

8 min reading

Council

You've finished the design and development of your entire digital project, and you're ready to launch? But don't go too fast. Have you already tested your product?

Acceptance testing is an essential phase when launching a digital project. All too often, project owners neglect this stage, in order to get their website or application out as quickly as possible. However, failure to test your product means a loss of money, quality and time. But why not? Nobody's perfect, and neither is your product. If your product is put into production too quickly, bugs can appear and ruin the user experience


What's a recipe? 

This is a test, or a series of tests, designed to validate the operation of your digital product and its compliance with specifications.

During acceptance testing, every stage of the project and every feature must be tested and validated. You need to check that your product is working properly. It's not just a matter of displaying a page on a screen, but making sure that everything behind it is operational. Next, you need to analyze compliance with your specifications. 

The acceptance phase is an incredibly important part of application development, but some developers underestimate it. The problem is that the risk of a bug appearing increases with every line of code, and the cost of fixing bugs rises with time. However, with a properly tested website or application , none of this should happen. So, if the application test goes off without a hitch, the application is ready for release.

The more supports, the better 

To ensure the success of your recipe, it's important to test your product on different media. Browsers work very differently, and bugs may appear on some but not on others. For example, if you're launching your mobile application, you'll need to test it on Android and IOS, and to take it a step further, you'll also need to test it on several different mobile models: Iphone 11, Iphone 5, Samsung A7... Of course, at the start of your project, you won't have access to all the technological resources for your recipe, but try as far as possible to test your project on all the mobiles you have at your disposal.

The same applies to a website: developers must carry out a browser compatibility test to check that your website displays correctly on different browsers. Another test to be carried out is the mobile browser compatibility test which, as the name suggests, is supposed to confirm that the application displays correctly on different mobile browsers. Different operating systems display certain elements differently. That's why it's important to carry out compatibility tests with as many operating systems as possible, especially the most popular ones such as Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as with a range of popular browsers such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.

One tester is good, two is better 

To ensure optimal, bug-free operation, one tester is not enough! At the very least, two testers are needed to ensure that no bugs escape your vigilance. It's all about preventing potential usability problems, detecting other imperfections, getting another point of view. Preferably, not only the developer should test the product, but also the project manager. Their complementary visions ensure a broad spectrum of testing. Of course, if you can get a few more testers, it won't do you any harm. On complex product developments, it may be necessary to set up one or more QA testers. They test each feature once it has been declared "finished" by the developers. These tests are carried out on thestagingenvironment in parallel with the development work. This makes changes over time much less painful.

The recipe book, an indispensable tool 


When you launched your project, you first had to draw up your specifications. This document will accompany you throughout your functional acceptance test. It will help you to define all the functional and technical actions you will find on your site. Based on your specifications, you can then draw up your acceptance report. 

The recipe book allows you to move forward step by step, checking every feature and route, without the risk of forgetting due to the density of elements.

If you don't know how to make a recipe book, we atLe BackyardUX agency can do it for you!


Centralize comments 


During your acceptance testing phase, use a tool to gather and organize your comments. As you're likely to find a large number of items to be corrected, it's important to gather them together using a recipe tool. This has the advantage of keeping a history of requests, tracking their resolution and prioritizing them.

It's essential to stay organized during acceptance testing. If bugs aren't properly described, noted and tracked, they can get lost and harm the user experience. Tools are available to organize your feedback so that it can be easily found, analyzed and corrected. This way, your tests will be as efficient and effective as possible. Some players use Google Sheet, or ticketing tools such as Jira and Redmine. At Le Backyard , we use Trello. We recommend you use this tool, the free version is more than sufficient and allows you to organize your tickets in a table accessible to all, with error correction tracking.   

Our web development agency offers you a tailored package to help you launch your digital project. From the creation phase, through the specifications, to the launch of your product, we're here to monitor and control your project.

Once all this planning is complete, you'll be able to launch your project with much greater confidence. If you need any further help along the way, please don't hesitate to contact us.

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