The Different Phases of Software Testing

Testing can be thought of as the backbone of every software development project. It’s not hard to see why testing has a place in each part of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Employing a poor testing methodology will potentially lead to the production of an unstable system and most likely, one that will cost you more money and time to put right.

When testing, there are specific project phases, these are all very well-known and well documented. However, software testing is not a single activity per se, but a concatenation of planned activities that need to be executed, along with the software development activities to ensure that a product is delivered to cost and time, without any errors. The following article aims to explain how testing fits within the life cycle of a project and the benefits of early testing and shifting left the quality as early as possible in the software testing life cycle. The following provides a high-level overview as how to plan your testing activities.

STLC - Software Testing Life Cycle, simply put, refers to a testing process regardless of which testing methodology you use (Agile, Scrum or Waterfall etc.), each process will have specific steps to be executed in a predefined sequence, thus ensuring that both the entry and exit criteria have been met through each stage of a project.


In the STLC process, every activity and testing task is carried out in a planned way, regardless of whether you are in a short sprint or a large waterfall project. Each project phase will naturally have different goals and deliverables but the principals of each objectives remains the same – delivering software that is bug-free and meets the Users requirements.

Within each project, there will be a level of detail that naturally alters dependant on the testing methodology, but the key features of the STLC will remain the same whether written into a formal document or scribbled on a post-it note. Here are the key (and not limited too) features of the STLC: