Improve Bug Reporting for Manual QA

As a manual QA tester you have two core responsibilities: 

1. Complete testing scenarios to search for bugs 
2. Report any bugs you find 

Unfortunately, the success of a manual QA effort is often more contingent on accomplishing that second task well, than it is on finding the bug. 

Creating the perfect ticket often takes time

Filling out a ticket for developers to go in and debug requires that you include all the relevant details that are needed to reproduce and ultimately diagnose the bug: 

• What device was used 
• The user credentials used for the test
• What build version you were testing
• What branch the build was on 
• Expected outcomes vs the actual outcomes you experienced
• The steps leading up to the bug 
• Video (screen capture) of the bug

Most manual testing processes don’t provide a particularly “seamless” process for collecting this information. You find the bug, and then you have to open up some video/screen recording tool, attempt to recreate the steps while meticulously documenting all of the details listed above, search for the logs and network call information…it’s a lot of work across a lot of different tools. 

If any of the information is missing, unknown, or unclear…developers end up with a ticket that is either delayed or pushed into the backlog because it is not easy to address. 

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Even if you do include all the relevant information, if an element of your test conditions are not easily recreated (your device was not reset properly or your user account had been used for another test and altered, etc.), the developer could struggle to reproduce the bug themselves. 

When your team (and or app) reach a certain size, the volume of bugs tickets increases: meaning the developers have to be able to tackle your ticket efficiently to keep pace. Giving them all of the information they need to quickly review what you tested, in what conditions, and the ultimate results will help expedite the debugging process. 

Sessions can help

Waldo Sessions was built to give QA teams an easy way to create a bug ticket that is resolved sooner…rather than later!

Let’s say you are completing manual testing on a physical device, and you discover a bug in a test scenario. You pump your fist in the air knowing you just caught something before production, and then you set down that physical phone and open Waldo Sessions to reproduce the bug. 

Quickly kickoff bug reproduction

Sessions starts by removing device preparation and app re-installation: the platform will always have a fresh, simulated device (in the configuration of your choosing) so you can be sure your test is conducted in proper conditions. 

Since Waldo also integrates with CI/CD solutions, you will have the correct version of the build available without having to reach out to your development team. 

Once you select your device, and the build version you are looking to use, your Session will install the app on this fresh device and launch it. From here, you can use the simulated device just like you would a physical device in your hand: moving through the test scenario and recreating the steps you just took that led you to the bug. 

Consolidate critical details

As you do this, the console logs and network calls will render on the screen in real time, directly alongside the device. Those logs and calls, plus every action you are taking on the screen, are being actively recorded by Waldo and timestamped. 

Once you encounter the bug again, end your Session and head to the Replays page. Here, you will be able to click into the newly created Replay and see: 

• A full video playback of your Session 
• The build version you tested 
• The branch that build version came from 
• A timeline of every action you took leading up to the bug 
• The console logs + network calls from the Session 

From here, you can easily rename the Replay to correspond with your test plan (ex: Sign Up Flow on iOS 13 Max), leave comments at specific moments in the video to direct team members to review certain parts of the Session, and generate a shareable link. This way, it is always explicitly clear what was tested, how, and what the ultimate outcome of that test was (i.e. what bug was discovered). 

Create the perfect ticket with a simple copy/paste

Finally, you can copy the link to this Replay and include it in your bug ticket (click the link to see an example) and send it to a developer, with all of the details they would need to reproduce the bug and begin troubleshooting the root cause. Soon, you will be able to generate a ticket to your preferred system (Jira, Github, Linear, etc.) directly within the Session that populates these details for you!

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Ready to improve your bug reporting and ticketing? 

Waldo Sessions condenses the whole documentation cycle that comes with bug reporting: making delivering detail rich debugging artifacts simple and error free. 

You can sign up for a Sessions account today, completely free (no card or contract required) to see for yourself how Replay links can improve your bug reporting. 

If you are interested in getting the same level of reporting for automated tests, reach out to our team for a demo of Waldo Automate!

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