Understanding Manual Testing: Process, Phases, and Best Practices

Name: Software Testing Tutorial #2 - What is Manual Testing | With Examples
Uploaded: 2026-01-25T14:08:04.411076+00:00
Channel: Software Testing Mentor
Description: Summary and key takeaways on Understanding Manual Testing: Process, Phases, and Best Practices, covering What Is Manual Testing? Manual testing is the practice

Software Testing Mentor

Jan 25, 2026

•

2 min read

YouTube video ID: MoQMRVXs-lo

Source: YouTube video by Software Testing Mentor — Watch original video

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What Is Manual Testing?

Manual testing is the practice of testing software without the aid of scripts or automation tools. Testers execute test cases by hand, interacting with the application just as an end‑user would.

Why Manual Testing Comes First

It validates requirements before any automation is built.
Detects usability issues that automated scripts might miss.
Serves as a baseline for creating reliable automated test suites.

Core Phases of the Manual Testing Life Cycle

Requirement Analysis
Read and understand functional specifications.
Identify possible test scenarios and any gaps in the requirements.
Provide feedback to business analysts or developers if ambiguities are found.
Test Planning
Define the overall approach, scope, resources, and schedule.
In waterfall/V‑model, create detailed master and phase‑level test plans.
In Scrum/Agile, draft concise plans for each 2‑4‑week sprint.
Test Design (Test Case Creation)
Translate requirements into concrete test cases.
Use test‑management tools (e.g., Jira, TestRail) to document them.
Ensure coverage of all functional areas (e.g., add‑to‑cart, remove‑from‑cart in an e‑commerce app).
Test Execution
Run test cases manually on the deployed build in a test environment.
Record outcomes: Pass, Fail, or Blocked.
For failed cases, log defects/bugs with steps to reproduce.
Defect Management
Assign defects to developers for fixing.
Retest resolved defects and close them if they pass.
Track open defects and assess their impact on release decisions.
Test Reporting
Generate test summary reports (formal exit reports for waterfall/V‑model; dynamic dashboards for Scrum).
Communicate test status, defect metrics, and any risks to stakeholders.

Manual vs. Automation

Manual Testing: Human‑driven, exploratory, suitable for early development phases and UI/UX validation.
Automation Testing: Script‑driven, efficient for regression and large data sets; typically follows successful manual testing.

Methodology Impact

Waterfall/V‑Model: Longer cycles (months‑to‑years); requires extensive documentation and formal test reports.
Scrum/Agile: Short sprints (2‑4 weeks); emphasizes collaboration, continuous feedback, and lightweight reporting.
The testing responsibilities shift from a siloed “testing phase” in waterfall to a shared quality ownership in Agile.

Key Takeaways

Manual testing is the foundational step regardless of development methodology.
Follow the structured phases: analyze, plan, design, execute, manage defects, and report.
Adapt documentation depth to the project’s lifecycle model.
Collaboration with developers, analysts, and product owners is crucial, especially in Agile environments.

Manual testing remains the foundational step in any software testing effort, ensuring requirements are met before automation or release.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Software Testing Mentor on YouTube?

Software Testing Mentor is a YouTube channel that publishes videos on a range of topics. Browse more summaries from this channel below.

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

What Is Manual Testing?

Manual testing is the practice of testing software without the aid of scripts or automation tools. Testers execute test cases by hand, interacting with the application just as an end‑user would.

Why Manual Testing Comes First

- It validates requirements before any automation is built. - Detects usability issues that automated scripts might miss. - Serves as a baseline for creating reliable automated test suites.

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Software Testing Manual Book Recommended

Provides comprehensive coverage of manual testing techniques and real‑world examples, helping testers build solid foundations now

Amazon →

Software Testing Interview Guide

Offers interview questions and answers focused on manual testing, aiding candidates to prepare for job interviews today

Amazon →

Istqb Foundation Level Book

Covers fundamental testing concepts including manual testing, essential for certification and current industry standards

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

Summarize another video

Full Transcript YouTube

hello everyone welcome again
in this software testing tutorial we are
going to learn
what is manual testing now as the name
suggests
manual testing is the testing that is
done manually
so if you are working in a software
testing team and you're working or you
are trying to test any software
with the manual efforts without the help
of any
scripts automation tools etc then
that sort of testing is known as manual
testing
now in the previous tutorial we have
already covered about
the software testing so if you haven't
watched my previous tutorial in the
series please go ahead and watch those
because they'll help you a lot in
understanding
the core concepts of software testing
and how to apply
those concepts into real world as well
as how to
you know apply those concepts to crack
the software testing interviews
now coming back to manual testing
basically so
um when you are starting any application
testing
or any software that you are trying to
test
the first and foremost type of testing
that you will do
is the manual test right now
if i talk about the categorization of
testing so
you know broader way or broader
categorization into testing is
one type is the manual testing which
will understand and then second one is
automation right
so automation and
manual now manual
testing is the first you know category
that you will target so any application
that you test you
do the manual testing first and ensure
that manual test cases or
the test cases that you try to run
manually
pass properly and there are no
outstanding defect
then you go to that second category and
use the tools
and scripts or programming language to
automate
those test cases all right so these are
two broader categories
um that you can you know think of in
software testing
manual is the testing that you do
manually automation is the testing that
you do
with the help of tools that are
available to automate
right so for example if you are using uh
you know web
uh if you're trying to automate web
application you can use selenium which
is very widely used
right so this is a brief about
the manual testing now let's understand
the overall
process that any tester
will follow in the overall testing life
cycle right or the development life
cycle
so it doesn't matter basically which
software development approach you are
following
the steps that i'm showing you here
to perform the manual testing will still
remain
same so whether it's waterfall whether
it's v model or whether it's scrum
or a agile scrum it will still be same
all right so the first phase in the
manual testing is basically to
analyze the requirement or you know
whatever requirement
a customer will provide you you
basically as a tester
you analyze those requirement and try to
find out
any gaps if there are any in the
requirement right so the first step is
to
analyze
requirements
all right so when we say analyze
requirement you basically
read through the requirement you
understand the requirement
and then you try to um
understand what all scenarios might be
possible
or you might be trying to test
to ensure that the requirement is being
covered
right so say for example um
i take an example of an e-commerce
application right so e-commerce
application will have ad card remove
add item to cart remove item to cart
right so
add item to cart
can be one of the requirement right
and then second requirement could be
remove item
from cart okay so when you get the
requirement which says something you
know build me an application or bring me
build me an e-commerce website
where not have the functionality to add
item to cart now as a tester you go
through these documentation that
what all functionalities will be there
uh then
you analyze those requirement and
understand
that what testing you will do with those
requirements so you come up with
with those those understanding that if
there are
any gaps in the requirement you
basically
put or provide your feedback to the team
and to the business all right
so analyzing requirement is the very
important aspect or
the first phase of the manual testing
then
the next come is the test you know
planning phase
okay so once you understand
the requirement the next phase is
basically
to plan how you are going to test all
the requirements that you have got
right so in the test plan phase you
write the plan or you basically
understand
and brainstorm the planning phase and
you write
the overall plan now if you're following
waterfall or v-model
those models are you know
run for quite a long period of time then
in that case you write a detailed test
plan
master test plan and then phase phase
level test plan
but if most of the organizations
nowadays follow scrum
which is agile methodology then
in that case you have shorter iterations
so two to four week cycle
in which you write a very simple crisp
plan that how you are going to target
the set of requirements that you have
got
for that particular sprint so don't
worry about all these terms
print and all i'll explain that uh in
you know like further lectures
when i go into the scrum methodology uh
in detail
so you the next phase is around the test
plan so test plan is written
so it doesn't matter which methodology
you are following you have to basically
prepare
accordingly then comes
the test design all right or you design
the test cases
test case design so you write the test
cases so i'll simply say
uh you know test case creation
all right so test case
creation now in test case creation what
you do is you
come up with the scenarios and create
the test cases in two tools say for
example if you are using jira
with some test management add-on you
create the test cases within jira
right or if you're using any other test
management tool you create
the test cases for the requirements that
you have got so that
there is a coverage of the requirement
or there are test spaces against those
requirement
that you are going to run all right the
fourth
phase is the execution so once you have
the requirements once you have analyzed
those once you write the test cases
um you know like you have planned uh how
you are going to test
then you execute the test cases so the
next phase is execution
execution all right or test execution
um i'll write
test execution
okay so in the test execution phase you
that's when you actually start executing
right so what execution means is once
your
you know developers have actually
deployed
the code so for example they have uh
written the code
to add the item to cart and remove the
item to cut so that code
is you know written to add the features
into the e-commerce website
that code will be deployed into the test
environment once the code has been
deployed
and you are being notified then you
start the test execution
in test execution what you will do is
you will launch
the application manually because this is
manual testing that we're trying to
understand
you launch it manually in any browser
chrome or firefox or i whatever
supported browsers are
and then you will try to add items into
the cart say for example
it's a grocery store or any you know
that clothing store
then you add those you know item into
the cart
and then try to remove the item so you
execute the test cases whatever you have
written
in that particular feature uh
the next thing with the execution say
for example
a couple of test cases passed that's
fine
but say for example couple of test cases
failed
so what you do is if the test case get
failed
then you raise the defect all right or
bug so defect
on bugs so in software testing defect or
bug
is something which um
is not what is expected when you execute
the test cases right so any
uh discrepancy in what you are expecting
as part of the test case
will be logged in as defect or also
known as bug
once that defect has been logged it is
assigned to the developer
again developer fixes it and then it
comes back to you
you retest that defect and you basically
either if the retest passes you close
the defect
and finally if all the test cases have
passed then
you at the last stage
either all the test cases passed or no
defects are there
or whatever open defects are there are
being agreed by the stakeholders that
yes these are fine
these are not very critical defects we
can do the release
or we can deploy the code even with
these defects and we
will take these defects in the next
iteration or next phase
all right then you come to the
test reports
so this is another phase right so these
are some of the key phases
now in the test report reporting what
you do is you
prepare the report now if you're
following scrum because
trump is two to four week cycle very
short iterations
or sprints in that case you don't need
to keep preparing these reports or
nowadays the
tools available for example jira you
will get
most of the time you know just have to
write a filter and you will get
reports available uh you know
dynamically on the dashboard
all right so the reports for each sprint
will be available dynamically for
the student if you're following scrum
but if you're following you know v
model or waterfall model which i'll
cover in detail in later tutorials
then in that case you have to write the
formal you know like test
exit report and all which will cover all
the details or all the testing that has
been done
in the whole process now because
waterfall
approach usually runs for six to you
know six months and it can run up to you
know like two years nowadays i have
rarely seen any organization following
the waterfall approach but there are
still
organizations that do follow waterfall
so in that particular case if that
duration is long you have to basically
prepare the documentation
as you know the duration is longer
instagram because the duration is very
less two to four weeks iteration
so you don't have to prepare that those
lengthy reports right
so these are some of the key phases
of the manual testing and how you are
going to basically do
manual testing in any of the project
right
in any of the project in any of the
development approach the
steps of manual testing how you
coordinate with the team member and the
business
a business analyst still remains exactly
same
whether you follow scrum whether you
follow waterfall or whether
you are following v model all right so
the only difference becomes here is in
terms of
the duration and in scrum it is more of
a collaborative team
work and the quality is everyone's
responsibility
in scrum and in agile but in the
older approaches waterfall and we
modeled it was basically a phased
approach
and that is why testing was always a
testing's responsibility so
it's basically a mind shift change in
agilent scrum which
that is why there is more collaboration
when you are analyzing the requirement
as a tester you sit together
with the team with the business analyst
with the developers to
understand the overall aspect and then
proceed through
the testing as the others go along with
the development so it's very
collaborative working culture in scrum
as compared to waterfall and v-mode all
right so that is a brief about
what exactly is manual testing and what
are
the key phases into the manual testing
and how you are going to perform
manual testing in any of the project or
any development approach that you are
going to follow
so hope this was helpful and hope it is
clear
please do share and subscribe and thank
you for watching