Language
.svg){kind=small}
Articles
8/11/2024
10 minutes
Planning User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Tips and Tricks for a Smooth and Enjoyable UAT
.svg)
.svg)
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is one of the most valuable stages in your DevOps pipeline — when it’s done right. During UAT, real users assess whether your project meets their needs in a production-like environment, providing insights that ultimately strengthen your organization’s bottom line.
But UAT can also be a sticking point, introducing roadblocks and frustration if not managed well. That’s why it’s essential for DevOps teams to arm themselves with the right strategies and UAT best practices before getting started. For Salesforce development teams focussed on delivering efficient, reliable releases, well-planned UAT is vital to avoid costly setbacks later on.
So, how can your DevOps’ team make the most of UAT?
In this guide, we’ll walk through proven tips to make UAT smooth, productive and insightful –– transforming it from a mere checkbox task into a powerful source of continuous feedback and user insights.
The purpose of UAT in DevOps is to ensure that the developed software meets business requirements and user needs before it’s deployed to production. This step is essential for delivering a high-quality product while minimizing the risk of post-deployment defects.
A successful UAT is about more than just confirming that software “works.” It’s about validating that the solution aligns with real business needs, functions as expected in user-driven scenarios and enhances the overall user experience.
While the definition of success may vary across teams, there are a few universal elements that shape effective UAT:
For tips on optimizing UAT in Salesforce, check out our End-to-End Best Practices Guide.
Here’s an expanded version of your steps for successful UAT, with additional context that incorporates the role of Copado and Salesforce:
UAT is a critical phase in the software development lifecycle, but it often faces challenges like limited user engagement and unproductive feedback loops. To turn this phase into a truly dynamic and insightful process, sometimes it pays to think outside the box.
Struggling with non-technical users in your UAT process? Check out our guide on How to Get Non-Technical Users Onboard with Salesforce UAT Testing.
The following strategies introduce fresh perspectives and creative approaches that can breathe new life into UAT, foster deeper user involvement and ultimately create a product that resonates better with its audience. From leveraging social media to implementing gamification techniques, these lesser-known tips can transform UAT from a routine checklist into a collaborative, enriching experience for everyone involved.
1. Create User Personas for Testing Scenarios
Developing detailed user personas can make all the difference in UAT. By creating personas that represent a range of user backgrounds, skill levels and use cases, testers gain a clearer view of how different users will interact with the product. This approach transforms UAT from a generic testing phase into a more targeted experience, capturing feedback that reflects the real-world diversity of your audience. With personas in place, teams can more easily identify usability issues that might otherwise go unnoticed, moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to truly user-centered testing.
2. Leverage Internal Boards for Real-Time Feedback
Tap into internal channels to solicit real-time feedback during UAT. Setting up a dedicated hashtag or chat group for testers can spark informal discussions and capture quick insights. This approach fosters a sense of community among users and makes it easier to capture spontaneous insights as users engage with the product.
3. Host a UAT Kickoff Workshop
Set the stage for a successful UAT by organizing a kickoff workshop. In this collaborative session, users can brainstorm potential testing scenarios and share their expectations, creating a testing experience that’s both user-driven and highly relevant. Beyond improving engagement, this workshop builds rapport among team members, fostering a supportive, collaborative atmosphere that sets the tone for the entire testing phase.
4. Use Proper Tools for Feedback
Users are busy, so getting useful feedback needs to be simple. Copado Explorer makes it easy by allowing users to add notes and highlights directly on their screen. They can quickly point out bugs or suggest improvements, all without extra hassle. This tool captures everything in context, making feedback clear, easy, and useful for the team.
5. Implement a ‘Reverse UAT’ Session
After the initial UAT round, try hosting a ‘reverse UAT’ session where users present their experiences and findings directly to the development team. This setup encourages open dialogue, allowing users to share their perspectives firsthand and sparking insights that might not emerge in the written feedback alone. It’s also a great way to empower users, showing them that their input is not just collected but valued, creating a more collaborative and impactful UAT process.
6. Encourage “What If” Scenarios
Spark creative thinking by inviting testers to explore “what if” questions during UAT. Ask questions like, "What if this feature worked differently?" or "What if we removed this step?" This technique encourages out-of-the-box thinking and can lead to innovative suggestions that improve the product. It helps testers break free from traditional usage patterns and envision new possibilities.
7. Implement a Feedback Wall
Set up a “feedback wall” where testers can share observations, suggestions and insights in real-time throughout the UAT process. This could be a physical board with sticky notes or a dedicated online space. The feedback wall fosters ongoing input, encouraging testers to share thoughts as they arise. It also allows for collective reflection, making it easier to identify patterns or recurring themes that can guide improvements.
8. Encourage Storytelling with User Scenarios
Invite users to share stories about their interactions with the product during UAT. Narratives offer a richer context than traditional feedback forms, revealing emotional connections or frustrations that raw data might miss. These stories uncover connections, frustrations and insights that help you see beyond numbers bringing user needs and expectations into clearer focus.
9. Integrate Interactive Prototyping
Bring your UAT to life with interactive prototypes that let users experience features hands-on. Instead of abstract descriptions, give them a real, clickable version of the product. This approach lets users visualize exactly how things work, making feedback richer and more relevant because it’s based on actual interaction. Plus, by catching reactions in real time, you can make adjustments on the spot.
10. Gamify the Feedback Process
Make UAT more engaging by adding a bit of game-style fun. Set up challenges or quests, awarding points for valuable feedback or completing specific tasks. This adds a sense of accomplishment and friendly competition, motivating testers to share more meaningful insights.
Running effective User Acceptance Testing (UAT) practices is crucial. It’s where you get that last, honest feedback to see if your product truly aligns with business objectives. For Salesforce teams, adding Copado to the mix streamlines deployment and boosts testing power with robust tools.
These steps cut through the noise to give you a clear approach to UAT, focusing on collaboration, quality and useful insights. With these best practices, UAT becomes more than a checkbox –– it’s a powerful way to capture feedback, build confidence and spot any final fixes before launch.
Step 1: Define Critical Business Scenarios
Before you begin UAT, identify scenarios that tie directly to your organization's goals. Not just functionality. The focus here is on business impact. Collaborate with stakeholders to pinpoint high-value user flows, like lead management or customer support processes within Salesforce. Prioritizing these critical scenarios will help you focus resources where they’ll make the most difference. Afterall, this is about driving real business value.
Step 2: Involve Users Early
Bring users in from the start. Not just any users –– a mix from different departments and skill levels. Involving a cross-functional team is key to spotting usability gaps that developers or product managers might overlook. Think sales, customer service, IT. Each brings a unique perspective that adds depth to your feedback.
Before diving into UAT, offer a quick training session. A simple overview to clarify the goals and how their input will shape the final product. This early engagement doesn’t just build buy-in –– fosters a sense of collaboration and shared ownership.
Step 3: Establish a Clean UAT Environment
Set up a dedicated UAT environment –– one that’s fully isolated from other testing phases. Why? This separation keeps testing realistic and prevents any contamination from parallel processes, such as development or QA testing.
With Copado, creating and managing a clean UAT sandbox that mirrors your production environment is easy. This ensures users are testing under conditions that reflect live operations. Regularly refreshing the environment also keeps data consistent and reliable, enabling testers to focus on what matters: providing actionable feedback.
Step 4: Centralize Feedback Collection
Centralize feedback to keep everything organized and accessible. Collaborative tools like Copado's integrated feedback mechanisms make it easy for users to submit insights and ensure nothing slips through the cracks. To simplify analysis, categorize feedback by type––performance, usability, bugs––so issues can be quickly prioritized.
This approach does more than streamline feedback –– you can quickly identify trends and address critical concerns early. Plus, it boosts visibility into user experiences and keeps the development team accountable for making improvements.
Step 5: Integrate Automation Where Possible
Automate the repetitive stuff. By setting up automated scripts for routine scenarios—like logging in or data entry—you free up testers to focus on more complex, nuanced tasks. Copado’s automation features make it easy to handle these repetitive processes smoothly.
Consider using pre-configured test data that reflects real-world user scenarios. It speeds up UAT, saves time, keeps testing consistent across sessions. With the routine work automated, users can dive deeper into the product and provide richer feedback.
Step 6: Schedule Time for Iterations and Re-Testing
Think of UAT as an ongoing cycle. Build time for feedback and re-testing into each development sprints, making it easier to validate new functionalities quickly and adjust based on user feedback.
Regular feedback rounds keep the process moving, and allowing users to submit insights asynchronously ensures that important feedback is not overlooked.
This iterative approach doesn’t just enhance product quality –– it also boosts user engagement by showing that their input leads to tangible improvements.
Iterative feedback is crucial to keep UAT efficient. Discover why relying on manual testing may be slowing your process in our eBook, Is Manual Testing Killing Your Release Velocity? And What to Do About It.
With smart planning, UAT becomes more than just a final checkpoint. It's a golden opportunity to capture real user insights, refine functionality and improve overall performance.
By going beyond basic testing and actively engaging users with the right processes and tools, UAT transforms into a powerful stage for delivering exceptional releases. These strategies make UAT smoother, more enjoyable and a meaningful part of your DevOps process –– one that builds user confidence and drives better outcomes before deployment.
Ready to make UAT (Almost) Enjoyable?
Say goodbye to UAT headaches and hello to a streamlined, collaborative process that everyone can get behind. With Copado’s AI-powered tools, you’ll simplify feedback, automate the tedious parts and bridge gaps between technical and non-technical testers.
Level up your Salesforce DevOps skills with our resource library.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.avif)
.avif)
.avif)
