Why Repetitive Manual Testing Is a Risk to Product Quality

Why Repetitive Manual Testing Is a Risk to Product Quality
Manual testing is critical to ensuring product quality. It has always been the backbone of quality assurance because with manual testing, you can perform exploratory testing, usability checks, and catch unexpected behaviors. Basically, the QA is looking at the product and interacting with it like a real end-user, which is good for checking its quality.

The Problem

When the QA is tasked with doing only manual testing and repeating the same regression tests release after release, the value of those tests can begin to erode. Running the same test cases every sprint or before every release can wear down even the most dedicated QA professional. Manual regression is often tedious - navigating the same screens, clicking the same buttons, verifying the same outputs.
Over time, the work becomes mechanical. The QA is less alert and starts assuming things will work as they always have. This can lead to skipped steps, overlooked bugs, or even failing to notice subtle UI or logic issues.
Humans are not consistent by nature; we are adaptable, and our attention drifts, especially under stress or boredom. Even small mistakes, like forgetting a test step or misinterpreting expected behavior, can allow bugs to slip through.
The other problem is the deadline and time pressure. When there are a lot of test cases and regression testing becomes too time-consuming, the testing is often rushed, or sometimes some parts must be skipped. This creates a dangerous illusion that the testing is done, but in reality, that is not the case, and some bugs can slip through.
When QA is constantly stuck in a loop of repeated manual tasks, there's less time for activities that matter and that can improve the quality of the product significantly. For example, when the QA has more time, he/she can focus more on exploratory testing, usability testing, pairing, and communicating with the developers, improving the test cases and other documentation, etc.
When the stagnation starts, the quality starts to go down.

Read the full post on my blog: https://qalogy.com/why-repetitive-manual-testing-is-a-risk-to-product-quality/