Gamma Testing in Software Testing

What is Gamma Testing?

Many of us have been turning around the term ‘Gamma’ thinking about its importance. It is the third and final testing phase just before the release of the app.

Since being the final phase of the testing, Gamma does not include any enhancements and changes to be made to the product, only the part of the code that is wicked or tending to affect the performance of the product can be changed.

It validates the performance and functionality of the product making sure the product is completely ready for use by the end-user.

Key Points of Gamma Testing technique

  • Gamma testing may be inferred as the third phase of the testing which involves direct testing without considering the in-house testing activities.
  • The criterion to go for this testing is the software’s readiness, fulfilling all the specified requirements, for its release in the market.
  • It is, generally performed after beta testing of the software product.
  • It involves the passing over the software product to the group of users-limited in number under real market environment but with restricted functionalities & use.
  • No scope to enhance or alter the code unless the defect being identified is potentially sufficient, to hamper the software’s quality.
  • The stringent deadlines’, increasing pressure, and short development cycles lack the interest of the organization to go for the gamma testing.

How to Perform Gamma Testing?

As already mentioned, Gamma Testing is performed directly by skipping in-house testing activities, testers are not considered as the participants in this phase. Very limited end users are identified for performing this testing.

The product is released to the open market with Gamma version and only limited specifications are requested to be tested from the entire product in this phase.

Reviews and feedback are effectively collected from the participants and are evaluated accordingly to assess the quality. Any review or feedback related to improvising the product is considered as updates for the product in the upcoming releases.

When and how to conduct gamma testing?

Gamma testing is commonly conducted after alpha and beta ones. This testing type does not require any in-house testing activities. It is performed by targeted users who share their evaluation of the product.

In general, the key features of gamma testing are the following:

However, due to the limited time and resources, QA specialists often choose to skip this testing phase presuming that all the critical bugs have already been found at the previous stages.

Advantages of Gamma Testing

  • You can be assured of security and functionality of the application as this test does not change or modify unless the bug is identified.
  • This testing is done directly without the interference of in-house team, hence saves a lot of time.
  • The application readiness can be ensured by fulfilling the requirement of customer.

Disadvantages of Gamma Testing

  • There is very limited scope of change in the code, If any found that may affect the performance.
  • Due to heavy workload and shorter development cycle organization skip Gamma Testing.