Catalog
method#Quality Assurance#Reliability#Observability#Software Engineering

Manual Testing

Practical, non-automated testing method for detecting defects, usability issues and deviations through human inspection.

Manual testing is a hands-on method for validating software quality by human testers.
Established
Medium

Classification

  • Medium
  • Organizational
  • Organizational
  • Intermediate

Technical context

Issue tracker (e.g., Jira) for defect recordingTest management tools (e.g., TestRail) for test documentationCI systems (e.g., Jenkins) for build and release versions

Principles & goals

Humans find different defects than automation; both approaches complement each other.Define clear goals and focus areas before test sessions.Document results precisely, ensure reproducibility and prioritize findings.
Build
Team, Domain

Use cases & scenarios

Compromises

  • Lack of automation leads to delayed regression testing.
  • Unstructured sessions may result in incomplete coverage.
  • Dependence on individual tester knowledge and experience.
  • Short timeboxed exploratory sessions with clear goals.
  • Use checklists and session charters for repeatability.
  • Log findings immediately into an issue tracker.

I/O & resources

  • Requirement or user story descriptions
  • Build/release instance and test environment
  • Accessible test data and possibly user accounts
  • Defect reports with reproduction steps
  • Short and long reports for decision bodies
  • Recommendations for test case automation

Description

Manual testing is a hands-on method for validating software quality by human testers. It covers exploratory, functional and regression testing without automation and excels at usability and visual checks and ad-hoc investigations. It complements automated testing, aiding risk discovery, acceptance criteria validation and exploratory test design.

✔

  • Finds usability and UI issues that are hard to detect automatically.
  • Rapid risk discovery for new or unclear requirements.
  • Flexible for ad-hoc investigations and exploratory sessions.

✖

  • Limited scalability: high manual effort for large test surfaces.
  • Hard to reproduce results without clear documentation.
  • Tester subjectivity can hinder consistent evaluation.

  • Defect Detection Rate

    Share of defects found per testing effort unit; indicates effectiveness of manual sessions.

  • Test cycle time

    Time from test start to completion for defined scenarios; measures efficiency.

  • Escaped defects

    Number of defects discovered in production that were not found before release.

Exploratory testing for feature launch

A team ran exploratory sessions before launch and discovered several usability issues fixed prior to release.

Acceptance test with PO

The product owner interactively validated acceptance criteria; minor adjustments were documented immediately.

Regression test after hotfix

After an urgent hotfix, manual smoke and regression tests were run to identify side effects.

1

Define goals and focus areas (scope & risks).

2

Prepare test environment and ensure access.

3

Conduct exploratory and structured sessions.

4

Document, prioritize and track results.

⚠️ Technical debt & bottlenecks

  • Missing automation for recurring smoke tests.
  • No central checklists or session charters established.
  • Incomplete documentation of exploratory sessions.
high-manual-effortenvironment-dependenciestest-coverage-gaps
  • Relying solely on manual tests in a high release tempo.
  • Manual testing without prioritization leads to wasted effort.
  • Testers fail to document findings sufficiently for reproduction.
  • Underestimating the effort for regression testing.
  • Confusing exploratory findings with completed tests.
  • Lack of context information hampers defect analysis.
Domain and product knowledgeExploratory thinking and hypothesis formationStrong reporting and communication
Reduce production risk by finding critical defects earlyEnsure usability and user acceptanceSupport fast release decisions via pragmatic testing
  • • Time constraints before releases limit scope.
  • • Not every platform allows full manual checks.
  • • Experienced testers may be limited in availability.