Achieving perfect harmony: The symbiosis of manual and automated testing in the software verification process

Have you ever wondered why the majority of people say that manual testing is better than automated testing? You may say that automated testing is better because the tests are made automatically, and it’s done by the computer which never makes mistakes. And you’re right - that’s true, but you have to remember that the computer is not the end user - the end user is an actual human being. That is why I want to introduce to you more arguments that manual testing will always be better than automatic ones.

‍Let’s start off with - what actually is manual testing?

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Here you can refresh your knowledge or even learn something completely different and innovative. 

As we all know, experienced testers really value exploratory testing, which is one of the methods of manual testing. The exploratory testing is based on very intuitive testing of a given software, not based on specific scenarios but based on experience in this field. Usually, the testers have a certain plan and they never assume that it works correctly, they have to force the software to prove that it is free from defects. And that is what exploratory testing is. In other words, we explore a certain thing, we get to know it again and learn how it works. This is a series of unusual tests that is hard to describe in test scenarios. 

Certainly, every tester will tell you that these are the best tests, thanks to which we can find as many defects as possible.

Okay so now you know what exploratory testing is, that they are a part of manual testing and that it is performed by people with a certain plan of action and an unconventional approach.

It’s not a bug, it’s a feature ;)

The word defect or BUG was also mentioned here. You probably guess what it is, it’s nothing else than a defect in the program, that is, unexpected or unwanted behavior of the program.

Finding BUGs is one of the basic things in manual testing. Finding them helps us remove or repair the damage which has arisen as an unintended result. 

Let’s get straight to the point

To be more specific, manual testing is a type of software testing in which we analyze and check the quality of code manually. For this purpose, testers create test documentation that contains individual test scenarios according to the program specification. 

Do you now see the advantages of this type of testing? I will now try to show you certain advantages of manual testing.

Advantages of manual testing

It’s basically feedback, lower production costs, no need to purchase automation support software, and the experience of human manual testers - their experience can do a lot in case of complex problems. 

Another plus is that there is no need to prepare a special script and testing process for automatic testing, which is usually time-consuming. I mention that tests of type E2E need to be constantly updated, and this type of test is not always able to catch the newly created faults in the system in the future.

Is automated testing better?

Since you already know what manual test processes are, you probably would like to know more about automated testing.

These tests are written and supervised by testers with the knowledge of writing test scripts. Thanks to writing these tests, we are able to automate some processes. Usually, these are repetitive processes, performed for the purposes to check whether there’s a regression made in the code, which means overwriting the old code with a new one and this caused a defect. Automated testing can detect this defect, which saves a lot of time - manual regression tests are very time-consuming. Automated testing is written based on a specific scenario and using the appropriate software.

In short, this test compares the obtained result with the expected, as previously mentioned, it helps to speed up the test process, which is repeated many times and this is the biggest feature of automated testing. The computer never makes any mistakes in this type of test, meanwhile, a person can be confused and is more likely to overlook something. 

‍Advantages and disadvantages of automated testing

I want to tell you briefly the advantages and disadvantages of both types of testing.

I will start off with automated testing, the main advantages this type of testing are:

• The rapid receipt of results;
• The ease of monitoring, faster analysis, and reproduction;
• The tests are performed by the tool;
• Increase test ranges without bypassing pre-existing ones.

And now the disadvantages of automated testing:

• Without human intervention, it is difficult to obtain conclusions on visual aspects such as: user interface, colors, fonts, contrast, etc.;
• Automated testing tools increase production costs;
• Time-consuming, they require writing scripts;
• Automation is not reliable, badly written tests happen;
• Constant updating of tests and testing tools

Maybe automated testing has its disadvantages, but at the same time, you can see its great potential and advantages. It’s a really useful tool in the work of a tester and it allows saving some time in the future, and allocates it to other things like manual testing because we are the end users.

Advantages and disadvantages of manual testing

And now I will show you once again the advantages of manual testing:

• Accurate feedback;
• Lower costs in many cases;
• Manual tester experience and knowledge of specific tasks;
• Troubleshooting;
• Faster implementation and realization;
• Ensure the quality that is accurate for the end user.

On the other hand, manual testing has its disadvantages:

• Such tests are prone to errors;
• Manual testing cannot be automatically saved for reproduction;
• In the case of repetitive tests, there can often be a mistake which doesn’t happen in automated testing;
• Obtaining results is time-consuming in a repetitive process.

Summary

Have you ever considered whether automated testing can replace a manual tester?

If so, the answer is “no” because they both work together. Automated tests are written by experienced testers to have more space in the future for more creative manual tests. Automated tests will not replace the experience and analysis performed by an industry specialist.

In conclusion, manual and automated testing are the basis of a functioning system, it is worth thinking of at the very beginning of the implementation of a new project.

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