{"id":368,"date":"2022-09-14T13:15:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T13:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/titanapps.io\/blog?p=368"},"modified":"2025-07-17T10:57:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T10:57:22","slug":"jira-manual-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/titanapps.io\/blog\/jira-manual-testing","title":{"rendered":"Best Practices For Manual Testing In Jira"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While Jira is not the best tool for manual testing (it simply wasn\u2019t built with QA in mind), it is – by far – the go-to choice for most software development projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jira has gained its popularity thanks to its vast customization capabilities. In simpler words, there are ways to fine-tune it to meet the needs of a manual tester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, it’s a two-way street: there are ways a QA engineer can utilize the tool to a greater extent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jira manual testing basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jira is built in a way where every task and subtask ends up in the \u201cdone\u201d column. This is a challenge for manual testing as the fact that you are done with the case doesn’t mean you won\u2019t be reusing the test case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, there are certain ways you can work around this limitation using the functionality Jira offers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are working on a smaller project, User Stories and Sub Tasks should be 90% of Jira functionality you\u2019ll need for manual testing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This simplicity, however, does not mean that there\u2019s no method behind it. For instance, you\u2019ll need to include the following elements into your test case \/ user story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The steps you\u2019ll need to take to reach a certain goal:<\/strong> be descriptive, but not too wordy. Having a numbered list that goes from the homepage to clicking on the contact button, to filling out the fields in the form is enough.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Expected results:<\/strong> What do you want the user to experience when following the aforementioned steps? Should the form give an error message if an invalid sequence is typed in? And does it do so? <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Sub-tasks bring the reusability into play. They\u2019ll serve as iterations or individual test runs. Do note that, if you are using sub-tasks in this manner, you\u2019ll need to label each of them with the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Expected outcome<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Version<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Assignee<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      There\u2019s a downside to using Jira in this way. For starters, the number of stories and subtasks you create will affect the sprint scope for the dev team. In addition to that, the growing number of tasks will be harder to manage on projects of a larger scale and scope. Some of the possible solutions would be to ask your Jira admin for help with setting up a dedicated testing project, or with creating a specific work (issue) type for test cases. The latter option is preferable for times when everyone needs to keep their finger on the project\u2019s pulse, as tracking the data in a single project is much simpler than managing several.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Manual testing using Jira: best practices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Now that we\u2019ve covered the basic Jira setup, let\u2019s dig a bit deeper into the meat of testing in Jira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n