How to win the next Klikaton

Klikaton is a testing competition with the goal of finding as many bugs in a chosen product as possible. It’s useful for testers as well as for companies. Testers can use Klikaton to better themselves in testing and reporting. Additionally, they can leave with interesting prizes. The gathered reports can be useful to companies, helping them better their software quality, user satisfaction and overall success of their product. Let’s have a look at what the event is all about and how to become the next winner.

Klikaton through the eyes of participants and companies  

“Klikaton is an experience filled with adrenalin that means putting ourselves on the market, being better than the others, proving to myself what I’m capable of, completing everything on time and looking for a competitive advantage in well written defects. It’s also a testing exercise – I exercise my mind, talent and capabilities. Klikaton is a meeting with friends and respected colleagues from the field. It’s a well spent evening with a great atmosphere and fun.” 
- Sandra, participant

“Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, long-term manual testing using your own resources usually leads you to a point where you’re blind towards your own bugs. That’s why we were looking for an option to try our apps with someone on the outside. Tesena and Klikaton were a perfect solution. Testers didn’t only focus on bug reporting but also suggested ways to improve our products.” 
- Robin Rezek, QA Tech Lead, Showmax

What is tested

The tested product can basically be anything: a new product, its component or a current production version. We’ve witnessed all these situations in our previous runs.

How it goes 

At the beginning of the event we share the necessary information with the participants. We introduce the tested product and the company responsible for it. Then we give all the participants the necessary data (access, testing accounts, testing environment). We also share information about limiting requirements in the form of browsers, devices, operating systems and a list of areas that aren’t a part of the competition. Testing happens not only on computers but also on smartphones and tablets. 

The competitors test without a prior introduction with the software product or it’s documentation. They mainly use intuition, the ability to spot bugs and where applicable their experience from testing or user experience. 

The whole event has a deadline and takes roughly 2 hours. Bug reporting is via a pre-prepared form and is customized to the needs of each partner that participates in Klikaton and is willing to have their product tested. 

All reports are subsequently proofed and scored using pre-defined criteria.

Winning and prizes 

The winners are usually the 3 best bug hunters with the highest point score. However, it’s not only about quantity but also the quality of the bugs. The prizes are of value and differ depending on the partner of the specific Klikaton. So far, we have seen cash prizes, coupons to e-shops or free tickets to restaurants.

How to win the next Klikaton 

Now, we’ll focus on several tips that will help you on your way to the next prize.

Discover different approaches 

You can approach testing in different ways: It’s useful to know about them and actively choose the correct technique for the given situation. The individual techniques can be: 

Exploratory testing

This means going through the app systematically – analyzing while testing. Getting a picture of how large the app is, how it branches, if it contains forms, filters, sorting, pagination, uploading files, pictures, etc. 

Error guessing

A technique where you think about the parts with the most risk or alternatively the parts that are most likely to work correctly because they have been tested thousands of times and focusing your energy on the parts with a higher potential for finding bugs. 

Ad-hoc testing

This is testing using the principles of smoke tests or testing the basic functionality of the product. 

Lateral testing

Not only in Klikaton it's often useful to use your imagination and think outside of the box and for example search for the most likely scenario that won’t occur to your average tester. 

User testing

You can also approach testing from your own subjective view and search for ways you would use the app yourselves. 

Have a strategy, a cool head and stamina 

After getting to know the product it's useful to create a testing plan. It can be a list of areas or components that are available in the app and going through them one by one. The plan itself will help you avoid chaotically running through the app and will give you more control over the testing itself.

Test the areas less visited

As a part of testing you shouldn’t focus so much on the main elements. These parts are the most important parts of the product and it's likely that the area will be well taken care of. Ideal parts to test are those where users won’t go to as often. Such places include contact, individual blogs or forums. 

Focus on validation

Often form validations are a gold mine for finding bugs. 

Test whatever you find suspicious

If you see a bug that doesn’t go against the limiting criteria set at the beginning, report it. Even small grammatical errors or a component’s functionalities that you persuade yourself are correct can turn out to be bugs that will separate you from the win. 

Don’t get stressed out by the others

Don’t panic when the person sitting next to you starts furiously typing. If they are reporting one bug after the other doesn’t have to mean that they’re reporting valid bugs. Instead try harder. If there really are bugs you can find them as well. 

Don’t give up

Even if you get the feeling that you’re incapable of finding bugs don’t give up. Thinking like a loser won’t get you the win. If you aren’t finding any bugs, try going to another area of the app. If you’re getting tired go for a short walk or take advantage of the complimentary energy drinks. 

Test to the end

There’s some time left but you think you went through everything right? Well, keep looking! We guarantee that the app has another bug and can mean getting the win. 

Report suggestions for improvements

Even user experience is evaluated. If you happen to find something that you would change and provide a valid reason you can be a step closer to winning. 

Help yourselves with testing tools

There aren’t any technical limitations for looking for bugs. Feel free to use the software of your choice that will make testing easier. One of these tools is a plugin called Bug magnet that will help with filling text fields with valid and invalid values.

Look out for 

Report validity

It’s not enough to report anything. Every reported bug is checked, replicated and if necessary, consulted with a representative from the partner company. 

Report’s clarity

If the bug report isn’t clear or won’t be possible to replicate using the report it won’t be evaluated and you will unnecessarily lose points. Bugs like “it crashed” or “there’s a missing picture” without further explanation can’t be replicated and unfortunately can’t be evaluated. 

Step reproduction

A description of the way to reproduce the bug helps prevent your bug not being evaluated. Screenshots also help your cause. If you add it to your report, you boost your chances of winning.

Summary

Most common situations that won’t help you win

• This is probably a feature… 
• It’s an e-shop, I’ll try to buy something… 
• There’s a typo, I guess we aren’t supposed to report that… 
• Are we supposed to test translations or the Czech version only? 
• That’s enough, I’m done… 
• It doesn’t matter how I write a report as long as there is one 

What will help you win

• Experience 
• Strategy 
• Staying calm 
• Stamina 
• A short walk or RedBull 
• Relevant tools 
• A full report 

We shared a few tips that have proven to be successful and we’re looking forward to meeting you at our next Klikaton! Follow us on social media where you’ll soon find out who and what our next competition will be.

Authors: Jan Harák, Sandra Klašková