What is the software testing process?

he software testing process is the sequence of activities your team uses to check that software works correctly before shipping. It typically covers five phases: planning, preparation, execution, reporting, and closure. The level of formality varies by team size and industry, but the core activities are the same whether you have three people or thirty.

At a glance

• The software testing process covers five phases: planning, preparation, execution, reporting, and closure
• Not every team needs all five; small teams often collapse planning and preparation into a quick discussion
• Every team does the same essential tasks: decide what to test, write test prompts, track results, log bugs, retest fixes
• Match the formality to your context: startups stay lightweight, regulated industries need documented evidence
• Start simple and add structure only when its absence causes real problems

The rest of this post covers each phase, the essential tasks behind them, the mistakes to avoid, and how formal your process needs to be.

Typical software testing explanations rely on complex diagrams, formal phases, and lengthy approvals, making the process seem rigid and linear. That might suit large, regulated projects, but for many teams it’s overkill. In reality, testing adapts to the team. Small teams test continuously as features are built. Larger teams may have defined phases but still adjust as they go. Startups often keep things informal, while enterprises rely on detailed strategies. What matters isn’t the methodology. It’s consistently answering “does this work?” and “are we ready to ship?”

What is the software testing process?

The testing process is the sequence of activities your team does to confirm software works correctly. The core activities involved often get broken down into phases: planning, preparation, execution, reporting, and closure. Not every team needs all five. Even the ISTQB Foundation syllabus, the industry's formal reference, says these activities are "often implemented iteratively or in parallel" and that the process "can be tailored to a given situation".

Think of it like checking a house before moving in. You walk through rooms looking for problems, make a list of what's broken, prioritize what needs fixing immediately versus what can wait, and decide whether it's livable or needs more work. The testing process works the same way: you're systematically checking your software, documenting problems, and helping stakeholders decide if it's ready.

The complexity varies wildly between teams. A three-person startup testing a web app has a very different process than a hundred-person team building medical software. But the core activities remain similar.

What are the main phases of software testing?

The main phases of software testing are test planning, preparation, execution, reporting, and closure. Even though testing processes vary from team to team, the work itself usually follows this basic flow. Teams just apply it differently depending on their situation.

Test planning

Deciding what needs testing and how you'll approach it. For simple projects, this might just be a quick discussion about priority areas. For complex projects, it might involve formal test plans documenting strategy, scope, and resource allocation.

Key activities:

• Identify what needs testing (features, workflows, integrations)
• Decide testing approach (exploratory, scripted, automated)
• Determine who's testing and when
• Plan the necessary test environments

Some teams skip formal test planning entirely and just discuss priorities before each release. That works fine if everyone understands what matters most.

Test preparation

Getting ready to actually test. This means setting up environments, creating test data, writing test instructions if needed, and making sure testers have access to what they need.

Key activities:

• Set up test environments
• Create or refresh test data
• Write test cases or test prompts if using them
• Configure any tools or tracking systems

How much preparation you need depends on your testing approach. Teams doing exploratory testing need less upfront work than teams following detailed test scripts.

Test execution

Actually testing the software. Testers work through features, try different scenarios, document what they find, and log bugs when things break.

Key activities:

• Run through test cases or explore features
• Try normal use cases and edge cases
• Document what works and what doesn't
• Log bugs with enough detail for developers to fix them
• Retest fixes to verify they work

This is where most testing time gets spent. The goal is discovering problems while there's still time to fix them.

Test reporting

Communicating what testing found so stakeholders can make decisions. At minimum, this means showing what's been tested, what's broken, and how serious the problems are.

Key activities:

• Summarize testing progress (what's covered, what's left)
• Report bugs found and their severity
• Highlight blockers preventing further testing
• Provide overall quality assessment

Good test reports answer the question "are we ready to ship?" without asking stakeholders to dig through raw test results.

Here’s how to carry out simple test reporting that actually works.

Test closure

Wrapping up testing for the current release. This means double-checking that the big bugs are fixed, saving results for later, and noting what worked (and what didn’t).

Key activities:

• Verify all critical bugs are resolved
• Archive test results
• Document what worked and what didn't
• Update regression tests with new checks

Many teams skip a formal closure, and that's fine if you're tracking the important stuff (fixed bugs stay fixed, lessons get applied next time).

What does every team's testing process include?

Every team's testing process includes the same essential tasks: deciding what to test, creating test instructions, tracking coverage, logging bugs, retesting fixes, and building regression checks. The phases above give a flexible outline, but these are the steps teams always take to make sure the software works:

Deciding what to test

You can't test everything, so you need to focus on what matters most. This usually means:

• Core functionality users depend on
• New features in the current release
• Areas with history of problems
• Integrations with other systems
• Critical user workflows

Small teams often do this through quick discussions. Larger teams might maintain formal test plans or requirement traceability matrices.

Creating test instructions

Teams handle test instructions in different ways: some write detailed test cases, some give short prompts, and some just trust testers to know what to do. The right approach depends on your context. Teams with experienced testers doing exploratory work need less documentation, whereas teams with less experienced testers or more compliance requirements need more structure.

Tracking what you've tested

Knowing what's been checked and what hasn't prevents gaps in coverage. That could be via a test management tool, a spreadsheet, or just checkboxes, whatever works for your team. Many teams find that tools like Testpad give them a good balance of simple and structured. The important thing is being able to answer "what have we tested?" and "what's left to test?"

Logging bugs

When you find a problem, record it so developers can fix it. A solid bug report covers what you were doing, what broke, how to reproduce it, and why it matters. You can track bugs in Jira, GitHub, a spreadsheet – basically whatever fits your team.

Retesting fixes

After developers fix bugs, verify the fixes actually work and didn't break anything else. This prevents the embarrassment of shipping software with "fixed" bugs that still occur.

Building regression checks

Every time you fix a significant bug, add a test to catch it if it resurfaces. Over time, this builds a safety net preventing old problems from reappearing. Regression testing doesn't have to be automated to be valuable. Manual regression checks work fine, especially for tests that are difficult to automate.

What mistakes do teams make with their testing process?

The most common testing process mistakes are adding too much process too early, testing everything equally, skipping basic checks, neglecting regression tests, and communicating results poorly. Understanding these helps you catch problems sooner and spend your time testing smarter, not harder.

Too much process too early

Teams new to testing often implement heavyweight processes before they need them. Formal test plans, detailed test cases and complex workflows slow things down without adding value for small projects. Start simple and structure only when you actually need it.

Testing everything equally

Not all features deserve equal testing attention. The login system matters more than the rarely-used admin panel. Recent changes need more scrutiny than stable code. Focus testing effort where problems would hurt most.

Skipping basic checks

Teams sometimes jump straight to testing new features without verifying basic functionality works. If core features are broken, there's no point testing anything else. Always do sanity testing first.

No regression testing

Fixing bugs without adding checks to prevent reoccurrence means the same bugs keep coming back. Every time you fix something significant, add a test for it.

Poor communication

Testing finds problems so they can be fixed. If test results don't reach the people who need them, or bug reports lack detail developers need, testing effort gets wasted. Clear, concise reporting matters as much as thorough testing.

How formal should your testing process be?

The right amount of process depends on your situation:

Startups usually get by with quick planning discussions and exploratory testing with light documentation. Growing teams benefit from more structure as coordination becomes harder, since written test instructions and better tracking prevent things falling through gaps. Healthcare, finance, and other regulated sectors need documented evidence that testing happened. And mature products with established user bases need strong regression testing to avoid breaking existing functionality.

Start with what you need and add structure when specific problems crop up, rather than trying to use certain processes just because other teams use them.

Getting started with a testing process

If you’re new to structured testing, start simple:

For your next release:

• List the three most important features to test
• Decide who’s testing and when
• Create a simple checklist of what needs checking
• Work through it and document what breaks
• After shipping, review what worked and what didn’t

That’s a testing process. Everything else is just refinement.

As your team grows:

• Add more detail to test instructions when needed
• Improve tracking when you can’t answer “what’s been tested?”
• Formalize planning as coordination gets trickier
• Build regression checks for recurring bugs
• Introduce automation when manual testing slows you down

Forget perfect processes at the start and just focus on catching problems before your users do.

Tools for managing the testing process

The right tools depend on your needs:

Starting out: Spreadsheets work fine for simple testing. They're familiar, flexible, and free.

Growing teams: Dedicated test management tools help organize testing at scale. Traditional test case management tools suit process-heavy environments. Lighter tools like Testpad offer middle ground: more capable than spreadsheets but without heavyweight complexity.

Development platforms: Many teams use integrated tools (Jira, GitHub, GitLab) that combine test tracking with bug management and project planning.

Choose tools that fit how your team actually works, not how you think testing should work.

Remember to start simple

The software testing process isn't about following a specific methodology or using particular tools. It's about consistently answering "does this work?" and "are we ready to ship?" in a way that fits your team and situation.

Start simple, test the important stuff first and add structure only when you actually need it. Everything else is details.

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