Top SIX Challenges and its Solutions in Performance Testing

"The application crashed while making the payment for the product!"...what can be more pathetic than having to hear a statement like this for the software application you own? Introducing an application in the market can be a proud moment for you. However, launching an application with defects could be a hot potato.

There can be various reasons for an application to crash. An application, once developed, must undergo quality assurance services to keep a check on the quality and avoid such failures. Executing a performance test in a QA process will help you know the operational capabilities of the application, its speed, and how it responds to different levels of loads. Thus, it is also called load testing.

These tests are performed towards the end of the SDLC and are considered beneficial for delivering a flawless product in the market. Although, the performance or the load testing can have specific challenges with it. Here is a list of some of the challenges that you might face when performing performance testing.

Top SIX Performance Testing Challenges & How to Solve Them:  

Performance testing is helpful to the DevOps teams however, facing challenges is possible. Sharing with you some of the challenging situations in performance testing with their solutions to combat the same:
  

1. Do you have enough knowledge of SDLC?

Experiencing a lack of knowledge on various aspects can be very challenging. For example, while being a part of SDLC and understanding the need to run a performance test on your application. However, many product owners or stakeholders do not understand the need for testing, and hence, the performance test does not become a crucial part of the development process. Consequently, lack of knowledge becomes a challenge in performance testing.

Here's the Solution:  

Quality assurance is a complex domain and knowing every aspect could be challenging. Hence, it can be beneficial to outsource the process and have the subject matter experts do their magic. Then, with comprehensive knowledge about the process, the experts can guide you and your team with the best practices to deliver a flawless application.

2. A not so Perfect Plan:

A strategic plan is what helps a team to achieve its goals. Understanding the performance of any application, its various aspects, its reaction to user interaction, or its speed requires a strategy or a well-designed plan. Lack of a strategic plan with developers and software testers could cause the failure to achieve the desired performance test results. Thereby affecting the delivery of a perfect performing application.

Here's the Solution: 

The strategical approach to testing could help all the developers and testers with their performance testing and extracting results to deliver flawless applications. First, the teams must clearly understand the application and its features to develop a plan of action that includes every element that needs to be tested, whether the load or stress, speed, or functionality. Next, the team must test all the metrics.

3. Lack of Time and Resources:

The DevOps team tends to overlook the performance test to save time and release the product in the market. Consequently, the time calculated for the SDLC is inaccurate due to the missing steps. However, if the DevOps team faces the constraints of resources or budget, they might also skip the performance test.

Here's the Solution: 

Performance testing should become a crucial part of the SDLC and be considered when allocating budget and resources. With performance testing being an integral part of the process, calculating the time consumed will also be accurate.

4. Using inappropriate tools for testing:

There are various factors involved, in the process of selecting tools for any kind of software testing. Some of them could be the cost of the license, the skill set of the team, or the features of your application. Selecting the right tool or wrong could result in wasting a lot of your time and thus affect your entire SDLC.

Here's the Solution: 

The quality assurance team should have deep-dive knowledge of various tools. And before choosing one for the process, the team should be aware of the application and its functionality on which the test is to be performed.

5. Wrong interpretation of results:

Performing a performance test on your application helps you analyze the functionality of the application. Unfortunately, though, wrong analysis of the results of tests could lead to performance failure. With inappropriate results, the test's purpose will not be served, thus leading to the delivery of an inefficient application in the market.

Here's the Solution: 

Subject matter experts should be the ones performing the tests and analyzing their results. It's the experts who know what the customer wants and how to achieve it. Hence, having a team of experts who can successfully perform various tests, understand the application's complexity, and act as per the requirements.

6. Performing test in a real-production environment:

Carrying out activities in a real-production environment could be challenging, affecting user interaction in real-time.

Here's the Solution: 

Therefore, the experts will always guide you to execute the performance test in a replica environment like that of the production environment. A virtual environment will save you from facing any failures in the customers' eyes while giving you enough time to bring the changes to the real environment and perform tests in different scenarios.

Conclusion:  

Performing a quality check on your application will help you deliver a perfect product. Ensuring quality assurance for your application requires experts who can perform various tests and identify the gaps in your application. Performance or load testing is one of them.

With performance testing, a QA team ensures excellent performance with reliability and responsiveness. The team tests the application at higher loads, measuring the functionality and operational capabilities of the product. Consequently, backing your application with trained QA professionals will help you deliver an error-free application with a timely release.