3 Factors That Determine Your Choice of Mobile Testing Tool
When it comes to selecting the ideal mobile testing tool for how your team operates, there’s no silver-bullet approach. Every team's different. Every application has a different purpose, function, user interface, or audience. There are a medley of different platforms to consider.
Before you pick the right mobile testing tool, you need to research your options thoroughly in order to find something that streamlines your processes and allows the development lifecycle to run smoother. However, even if understanding the capabilities of the tool is critical, it’s even more essential to take a step back and look at your own team before deciding on a tool.
Alan Crouch, the director of mobile testing with Coveros, recently spoke to StickyMinds about the nature of mobile testing tools and how teams should decide which route makes the most sense. Crouch points to three specific things you should consider about your team before choosing a tool.
“It's always been important to choose testing tools for three things: The people doing development and testing, the process by which you're developing your app, and the technologies you're using in your app,” he explains. “There are a lot of competing tools in the marketplace. It's not necessarily easy to select the right one, but select one that's good enough and continue evaluating. The truth of the matter is the right one is more like the right one for right now because the tools will change over time, often as rapidly as the mobile industry.”
Your developers and testers, individual processes, and technologies should all be at the top of the list when going through this process, but Crouch also makes an important point when it comes to using the right tool for the right time and not committing for the long haul.
Mobile is new, fluid, and still growing rapidly. Because of that, getting a single tool and expecting it to work for any and all situations isn’t the smartest route. You need to adapt to what comes your way, and according to Crouch, switching between tools isn’t the end of the world.
“If you allow the tool to define your process, it's a lot harder,” Crouch said of changing mobile testing tools. “If the tool is helping your development process and is a part of your development process but doesn't define it, it's a lot easier to just, you know, rip out one to the other.”
Before you pick a mobile testing tool, look at your team and processes, then evaluate which tools are on the market. But don’t be afraid to adjust your toolset as the demands of the industry and your team change.
