What a Good Software Testing Process Looks Like

What a Good Software Testing Process Looks Like

Building software isn’t just about writing code, it’s about delivering something that works reliably, scales effectively, and provides a great experience for users. Too often, testing is treated as a final checkbox before launch. In reality, it should be an integral part of the entire development lifecycle, informing design decisions, validating assumptions, and providing confidence that what’s being built is fit for purpose.

At The Curve, we approach testing as a layered, iterative process. Each layer builds on the last, helping us catch issues early, minimise risk, and ensure that systems perform under real-world conditions. Here’s what a robust testing process looks like in practice.

Start with a Test Plan, Not Just Test Cases

A solid testing strategy starts well before the first line of code is written. From the requirements and specifications, we define a test plan which is a document that outlines:

• The scope and objectives of testing

• The different testing types that will be applied

• The tools and environments needed

• How testing risks will be identified and mitigated

• The criteria for success and release readiness

This upfront planning ensures everyone understands how quality will be measured and what "good" looks like before we begin.

Build Test Cases

Once the plan is in place, we translate the requirements into detailed test cases. These are structured scenarios that define how we’ll verify functionality. Each test case traces back to a specific requirement, ensuring complete coverage and making it clear which feature is being validated.

This requirements-driven approach is essential: it avoids the common pitfall of testing only the “happy paths” and helps us catch edge cases that could otherwise be missed.

Once the test cases have been defined, the goal is to execute against the test strategy which has been outlined in the prior Test Plan. It’s typical for most projects that we’ll use a mix of:

• Manual Testing

• Automation Testing

• Exploritary Testing

• Security Testing

• Performance and Scalability Testing

Manual Testing: Early Feedback and Human Insight

When new functionality is developed, we start with manual testing. This hands-on approach allows testers and developers to:

• Verify that the feature works as intended

• Explore how it behaves under different inputs and conditions

• Provide immediate feedback on usability and UX issues

Manual testing is particularly valuable early in development when features are still evolving and rapid feedback loops are critical.

Automate for Confidence and Speed

Once a feature’s behaviour is validated manually, we build automated tests. These are scripts that continuously verify functionality every time new code is integrated, forming the backbone of a regression testing strategy.

Automated tests mean we can:

• Detect regressions instantly as the system evolves

• Reduce manual effort in repetitive testing

• Release updates more confidently and frequently

The combination of manual and automated testing strikes a balance between human judgment where it’s needed, and machine precision through automation everywhere else.

Exploratory Testing: Find the Unknown Unknowns

No matter how comprehensive your test cases are, users will always find ways to use a system you didn’t anticipate. That’s why we include exploratory testing which is an unstructured but systematic effort to “break” the software or use it in unexpected ways.

Exploratory testing helps us uncover:

• Hidden usability issues

• Edge-case failures

• Security weaknesses that scripted tests may miss

This creative, adversarial approach complements traditional testing and often uncovers some of the most valuable insights.

Security Testing: Building Trust Into the System

Security isn’t something you should bolt on at the end, but rigorous security testing is a crucial step before any system goes live, and should form part of the system continuous testing evaluation throughout the project.

We test for common vulnerabilities, check that privacy and confidentiality requirements are met, and ensure that there’s no data leakage or unintended privilege escalation.

Security testing often includes a blend of automation testing (using automated vulnerability and security scanners) combined with elements of exploratory testing. The aim is uncover any and all security defects, as part of this we often check:

• Input validation and injection vulnerabilities

• Authentication and authorisation logic

• Access control and privilege boundaries

• Session and state management

• Data encryption and secure communication

• Error handling and information leakage

• API and integration security

• Dependency and supply chain vulnerabilities

• Configuration and environment security

• Audit logging and monitoring

• Privacy and data handling

By simulating real-world attack scenarios, we make sure the system is robust against threats and compliant with relevant security standards.

Performance and Scalability Testing: Proving It Works Under Load

A system that works perfectly for one user but slows to a crawl under real-world traffic isn’t production-ready. That’s why we conduct performance testing, using tooling that is capable of simulating realistic user loads and stress the system.

Our performance testing process looks for:

• Bottlenecks in database queries, API calls, or server response times

• Scalability issues as user numbers grow

• Memory and resource leaks over long-running sessions

• Latency and response time analysis

• Throughput and capacity testing

• Concurrency and locking behaviour

• Caching effectiveness

• Load balancing and failover behaviour

• Cold start vs. warm performance

• Stress and degradation testing

The result is a clear picture of how the system behaves at scale, and actionable insights to improve performance before users ever encounter a problem.

Continuous Testing: Quality as a Habit, Not an Event

Testing shouldn’t be a phase at the end of a project, it should be a continuous activity that runs from the very first lines of code and carries on long after launch. That’s why we embed testing directly into our development and delivery workflows from day one.

Every change, whether it’s a new feature, a bug fix, or a configuration tweak is automatically validated as part of our continuous integration (CI) pipeline. Automated unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests run on every commit, providing rapid feedback and catching regressions before they make it into production.

As the system evolves, this testing foundation grows with it. New test cases are added alongside new features, and existing tests act as a safety net that ensures stability and confidence as the codebase scales.

The result is a culture of quality as a habit where testing isn’t a one-off milestone, but a constant source of feedback and assurance throughout the entire lifecycle of the product.

The Result: Reliable, Scalable, and Trusted Software

A comprehensive testing strategy encompasses more than just finding bugs. A well-defined test strategy is about reducing risk, building confidence, and delivering software that works under real conditions. By combining structured methods like automation and performance testing with more human approaches like exploratory testing, we ensure that the systems we build are not only correct, but resilient, secure, and ready to scale.