Test debt 101: practical advice on how QA teams can contribute to its minimization on projects

I think almost everyone can remember situations related to their day-to-day life when they postponed some activities until a more opportune moment showed itself or because of other higher priority tasks, and then ended up with a myriad of notifications in the calendar signaling unfinished business. Finally catching up on missed activities can be overwhelming, thus demanding more energy and resources.

Just like in private life, negative consequences can appear within software development projects if teams postpone, miss, or decide not to do necessary tasks, such as running testing activities to meet deadlines. This contributes to the accumulation of large amounts of test debt, making it very difficult to reduce the occurrence of missed defects.

Therefore, in this article I’ll explain what test debt is, how it impacts project results, and share practical tips on how QA specialists can help reduce it for the greater good.

Delving into the definitions and core reasons of test debt

According to a well-known technological research and consulting organization, technical debt is an accumulated, inevitable number of activities that project teams need to fulfill as a result of prioritizing meeting release schedules instead of focusing on software quality.

Test debt, in turn, is identical to technical debt and appears when QA activities are missed, postponed, incomplete, or not maintained in due time. It often presupposes activities related to fixing and enhancing existing tests or creating new tests. The main reasons for test debt include:

• Shortage of resources. Insufficient number of testing experts can bring a lot of headaches down the line, such as limited test coverage, lack of automated testing, or skipping vital tests because of low team capacity.
• High software complexity. Complex IT products with diverse functionalities and intricate dependencies may make it complicated to create required tests. Also, sometimes QA engineers simply don’t have enough time to run holistic test cases.
• Existing technical debt. When this also exists in the project, QA engineers may have challenges with creating new tests for poorly written code or maintaining existing tests.
• Running few tests. When under high release pressure or confronting budget constraints, QA specialists sometimes have to disregard holistic system examination and only perform a small number of checks, which, of course, increases the probability of defects in the production environment.
• Poorly designed verifications. Sometimes, QA specialists may write tests without considering many variations of needed data, not cover particular functionality with tests, or rely on poor test design and models. In addition, when running them, they may follow only positive scenarios, which leads to unstable software functionality after the release.
• Skipping verifying tests. If QA engineers prefer to omit the vital role of scrutinizing their tests or missed some requirements, chances are high that their quality will be low and further maintenance will require a lot of extra effort down the line.
• Sticking to an unsuitable environment. If QA specialists run verifications in an environment that differs greatly from that of the end user or client, the failsafe operation of the final IT product version isn’t completely guaranteed.
• Missing best practices. Automated tests are written with different programming languages depending on project specifics and clients’ requirements. If QA automation engineers don’t follow set standards, such scripts can be very challenging to update in the future, which can result in lowered test coverage.
• Neglecting test update. Over time, the IT product inevitably evolves, new functionality is added, which means that tests must be altered accordingly, and new tests must be written as well. Otherwise, it will be challenging to maintain them.
• Skills shortage. If software testing engineers lack competencies related to industrial, technical, and process aspects, in the future the project can face missed tests and insufficient coverage.
• Low managerial capabilities. If project workflows are inefficient and are characterized by interaction gaps, inadequate scheduling, poor planning, lack of proper testing strategies, issues with defining what activities should come first then problems with quality won’t be far behind. For instance, performance testing should be done in a separate environment when the software is almost ready to avoid interference by other testing types.

Why unresolved test debt can turn into a real problem

If organizations prefer to postpone problem resolution, they face a higher risk of defects in the production environment, including those affecting critical business functionality, leading to low customer satisfaction and reputational concerns.

One more probable problem relates to higher maintenance costs. Without scrutinizing IT products, more defects at late SDLC stages can appear, and fixing them may take more time and resources. In addition, if test documentation on the project is poor and the team lacks knowledge on the operation of existing software, the accretion of features can be complicated, which decelerates development and hinders cost-effectiveness.

Test debt can also often lead to project delays. When teams spend a lot of time fixing multiple issues, lack solid test automation practices, and write many missing tests, delivery dates are pushed back.

Compromised security is another serious consequence I’d like to focus on. By skipping security testing or missing some vulnerabilities, QA teams increase the risk of breaches and data losses, which can negatively impact the company’s brand image.

What’s more, project teammates are very unlikely to be quite happy resolving test debt instead of upgrading their skills or learning something new, which contributes to low team morale.

How software testing specialists can make a difference

In order to effectively manage test debt on a project, QA manual and automation engineers can consider some tried-and-true practical steps:

• Do not bail on automated testing

Test automation introduction can contribute to alleviating test debt on the project. How? With automated testing, QA teams find flaws early in the development process, significantly improve test coverage, cut testing time, ensure ongoing quality control workflows, and receive rapid feedback on the functioning of the IT product. This approach also helps teams meet tight release deadlines, diminish the probability of human error, and decreases testing costs. I’d also recommend executing tests in parallel to achieve desired outcomes even faster.

• Keep your test documentation in order

Having a relevant test model that describes the current software state and parts covered by tests, relying on test design techniques, creating detailed, consistent test artifacts, such as test cases, plans, scenarios, reports, checklists, requirements, and timely updating them is of critical importance for minimizing test debt on any project. Why?

First, it’ll help to reach efficient test coverage and minimize the number of defects. Second, it increases testing efficiency as team members will follow accurate plans and know exactly what, when, and how they should do their tasks, which helps prevent double work. Third, it makes it possible for project newcomers to quickly delve into the nuances of the tested IT product and the current project progress.

• Always consider tests prioritization during planning

Regardless of the industry QA specialists cater to, their primary objective is to contribute to delivering failsafe software solutions on time and within budget. During planning and testing, it’s important for them to focus on the most critical business features first (e.g., placing orders, payments, searching through product catalogues, which is crucial for eCommerce projects). This way they can avoid expensive post-release defect fixing, meet set deadlines, decrease the probability of user churn because of software failures, sagely allocate resources, and thus diminish the risks of test debt accumulation.

• Perform regular tests maintenance and review

During any project, the software will obtain new features or updates with each release, meaning that some parts of the tests can quickly become obsolete, which can only negatively affect the overall software testing capabilities of the team and lead to test debt. That’s why it’s so important for the QA engineers to make sure tests are relevant, accurate, contain no redundancies, issues (ambiguous wording, missed scenarios, etc.), and are written in line with set standards regularly. What’s more, this activity fosters education within a team, as new members can learn from their more experienced colleagues and delve more quickly into software specifics.

• Raise awareness

I’d suggest that QA leads educate their teams on the essence of the test debt and its probable adverse impact. As well as ways of preventing or effectively addressing it throughout the entire development process. Thus, it’s possible to minimize its influence in the future, avoid team overload, and manage available resources in a more efficient way. In addition, when teams bear test debt in mind, dedicate some time in each sprint to deal with test debt, and continuously perform audits to find areas with test debt, they can approach testing in a more responsible way and avoid compromising software quality.

Final thoughts

Postponing test activities for the sake of increased speed may bring more harm than good in the long run, causing intricate problems with delivery velocity, software operation, security, team satisfaction, and budget.

To prevent these negative consequences, QA specialists can introduce test automation, take care of test documentation, prioritize and maintain tests, and educate project members on the importance of test debt minimization.