What are the most effective ways to validate software during development?

User feedback is a crucial aspect of validating software during development. It provides valuable insights into how users perceive and interact with the software, helping to identify usability issues, bugs, and areas for improvement. Incorporating user feedback into the development process can lead to a more user-friendly and successful product. Ways to gather user feedback include surveys, interviews, usability testing, beta testing, and monitoring user behavior through analytics. Integrating user feedback into the validation process ensures that the software meets user expectations and delivers a positive user experience.

An adequate analysis of requirements or user stories should provide us with insights into what needs to be validated within the development process. When breaking these down, if we are working in an agile methodology, we should also consider the corresponding validation. It is always important to have validation at the system level (architecture, performance, volumes, etc.), at the user level (stakeholders in general), and at the level of how this development or part of development is fulfilling the final objective of this project or product evolution.

Pode ser feito através de testes automatizados, que verificam a consistência de lógica e funcionalidade do software. Testes manuais também são necessários para verificar a experiência do usuário e a usabilidade. Revisões de código por pares garantem a qualidade do código e identificam possíveis defeitos. Testes exploratórios podem descobrir defeitos inesperados, enquanto testes A/B comparam diferentes versões do software para identificar a mais eficaz. O feedback do usuário, obtido através de prototipagem, é importante para entender melhor as necessidades dos usuários. A escolha dos métodos de validação pode variar de acordo com a metodologia de desenvolvimento adotada.

User Testing with the clear business objectives initially agreed at hand. Goals can change but the criteria for a successful test must be the guided by the users.

In my experience, functional testing by the requirements team provides the user feedback that's going to validate software during development. This ensures early on that the code matches the requirements.

Unit testing is a software testing method where individual units or components of an application are tested in isolation. It ensures that each unit functions as expected, is automated for efficiency, and executes quickly. Unit tests are repeatable, independent, and often use mocks or stubs to isolate the unit under test. This practice is integral to agile and test-driven development, enhancing code quality, bug detection, and facilitating safer refactoring.

Unit testing is another way to check software during development. It involves testing each part of the software separately to make sure they work right. This helps find and fix mistakes or problems in the code. Unit testing can be done by hand or with special tools made for different types of programming. It helps make sure the software works well and is easy to keep up-to-date.

Unit testing provides the developer a confirmation that the built code answers the requirements . It is important to fix errors and optimize the code assuring quality . I find that manual and automated tests combined it a good way to perform unit tests.

Test independent components or modules to verify functionality and quality. Identify and fix errors, bugs, and defects in code. Ensure each part of the software works as intended

Durante os testes unitários, pense em automação para ganhar tempo e eficácia, mas não se esqueça do ser humano do outro lado da mesma, pois o user final será um ser humano com foco em obter uma experiencia de utilização. Os testes irão dar maior confiabilidade e confiança ao time assim, somo mostrar pontos de melhoria em tempo de projeto.

In my experience, integration testing goes beyond just ensuring different software components work together. We need to deeply understand how the different software components work together as a whole, behave and operate taking into consideration the business and technical requirements set by the stakeholders.

Another method to check software during development is through integration testing. This means testing how different parts of the software work together. Integration testing helps you make sure that all the pieces of the software can communicate properly and work well as a whole. It helps find any problems or conflicts that might come up when combining different parts. Integration testing can be done step by step or all at once, using tools that mimic different situations. This type of testing helps improve how well the software works, how fast it is, and how safe it is.

Validate interactions between different components or modules. Ensure seamless handshake & Communication and data flow across the system This is very important leg in SDLC as if the coupled partners (all of them) wont talk to each other properly it will be a interrupting relation bound to impacts the whole family of Components :)

Integration Testing is most complex in terms of the many stakeholders involved. It is a smart strategy now to start having a way preferably automated to check for integration without compromising production data and tempering with data flow. Here, updated documentation and integrity of data play a big role in the success of the testing process

At both the unit testing and final systems integration test levels, make it a challenge match between the developers and the test data development teams.

Code review helps to catch mistakes, improve code quality, and ensure that the code is consistent with industry standards and best practices. It provides an opportunity for multiple developers to collaborate and share knowledge, which can lead to better solutions and faster development times. It can be conducted manually, automatically, or through a hybrid approach that combines elements of both.

Code review is an excellent practice. However, with the complexity and the heavy functionality that applications are demanded, having a solid multi-tier/microservices architecture is a must. Without a good IT application architecture code review will be tedious and more complex activities and soon enough lose its effectiveness

Code review helps make sure the code is good quality, easy to understand, and follows the right style. It also helps catch any mistakes, bugs, or security issues that the original developer might have missed. Code review can be done in a formal or informal way, using tools and platforms that make it easy for people to work together and give feedback. Doing code reviews helps the whole team learn and follow the best practices and standards for writing code.

Code review is a crucial practice in software development where developers scrutinize each other's code for errors, bugs, and adherence to coding standards. It ensures code quality, improves maintainability, and promotes knowledge sharing among team members. Through peer feedback and collaboration, code reviews enhance code readability, identify potential vulnerabilities, and foster best practices. By catching issues early in the development process, code reviews prevent defects from propagating into production, ultimately enhancing the reliability and robustness of the software product.

Un audit de code est primordial, il permet de détecter et de corriger rapidement les erreurs et les failles de sécurité en particulier l'environnement de développement.

Compliance testing helps ensure the software is safe, secure, and reliable. It also makes sure the software follows all the rules and policies that could affect things like reputation or liability. Compliance testing can be done by your team or by external experts. They use tools and services to check different parts of the software, like how it handles data, its accessibility, privacy, and overall quality. Doing compliance testing helps avoid any penalties or legal issues that might come from not following the rules.

Compliance testing ensures that software adheres to regulatory requirements, industry standards, and internal policies. It involves verifying whether the software meets specific criteria, such as security protocols, data privacy regulations, accessibility standards, and legal obligations. Compliance testing helps mitigate legal risks, protects sensitive data, and enhances trust among users and stakeholders. Automated compliance tests streamline validation processes, ensuring consistent adherence to standards across software releases. Regular compliance testing fosters a culture of regulatory compliance within development teams, promoting accountability and minimizing potential liabilities.

No doubt it is important to have the validation strategy in the software development. However, the importance would become useless if the validation strategy is without the goal to be achieved. The 3 main areas to validate: 1. Validation on the functional / biz logic - To ensure the biz functional requirement are met 2. Validation on the source codes - To ensure it is following the IT Standards & without any unnecessary codes, library, files, etc. 3. Validation on the security controls - To ensure the controls are effective. Authentication, Authorization, Session Mgmt, Configuration Mgmt, Error Response, Data Protection, File Uploading, Input Validation, Audit Trails. At which stage to do those validation is also important.

This strategy lays out what you want to achieve, how you'll do it, and what tools and criteria you'll use to check the software. Having a clear plan helps you organize, track, and document your validation tasks. It ensures that your validation efforts match your software development goals and standards. Plus, a good strategy helps you make the most of your time, money, and resources. Ultimately, it helps you deliver top-notch software that meets everyone's expectations.

Go back to the original scoping document and the framework build source , use that as the measurement stick during development , testing is crucial at each milestone in development

When it comes to software testing, there is no one size fit all. Every organization is different and comes with different challenges and needs. That is why it’s important to customize and tailor the testing strategy to fit the unique nature of the organization. It should take into consideration the way organizations organized and behave, the level maturity of software development, the speed by which changes are delivered, the risk appetite of the organization etc. A truly successful testing strategy is the one that brings real results to the organization.

Esta estratégia de validação abrange desde o debate, definição e desenhos das entregas com seus objetivos, critérios e indicadores de lado a lado até a devida preparação baseada nestes dados do lado de TI para atender e garantir este processo. É necessário envolvimento dos desenvolvedores, líderes técnicos, responsáveis pela infra, etc. para que ambientes, bases de dados, acessos, simulações, atualizações, licenças, etc. estejam previstas, definidas e prontas para os momentos chave das validações.

I highly recommend leveraging automation and adopting “shift left” mindset. Automation accelerate software testing significantly and enable the rapid identification and resolution of issues which is critical in meeting today's fast-paced software delivery demands. Adopting ‘shift left’ approach ensuring testing is integrated at the early stage of the development lifecycle and facilitating early the detection of issues reducing software delivery failure.

Many and different ways to follow depending on the software that going to be delivered as well technology used to build that software however common practice is to perform code review and unit testing interchangeably by developers beside end users engagement in validating the same via managed workshops receiving early feedback but considering control scope of work Finally focus on delivering working software meets requirements and expectations

Dogfooding! At Google there is a strong culture of "Eating your own dog food" which is the practice for an organization to test its products in real-world usage using product management techniques. Some of the benefits are: - Uncover real-world issues: Using your own software in day-to-day operations helps identify bugs and usability problems that traditional testing might miss. Your team encounters the software in situations that mimic how actual customers will interact with it. - Improved product empathy: Gain a deeper understanding of the user experience, leading to more user-centric design and improvements. - Early bug detection: Reduces the number of issues that reach customers, saving costs and bolstering product reputation.

One of the most effective types of testing are end-to-end testing and load testing. End-to-end tests are expensive in terms of creation and maintenance because they are created as a pard of business process and therefore may require doing some operations in other systems. Also, these tests take too much time and it may be impossible to have as many tests as wanted in CI/CD pipeline. Load testing is much simpler, but requires a setup equal to PROD. This also makes it doubtful to use it in automation tests set. Therefore, many people forget about these tests when discussing the approaches of QA.

Em diferentes projetos não se esqueça de atuar business e IT juntos e validar a experiência do usuário do processo em poucos cliques de maneira minimalista e funcional