How to improve our software testing process?

We are  always  wanting to improve our testing processes. For that, we need to provide the practical knowledge to the laymen testers so that they could gain  high benefit. Review of the testing process must be done in all the phases of the project development life cycle. Often when a project does not meet  customer satisfaction parameters, a formal review is performed which at times can prove to be too late. Pro-active organizations always prefer the reviews at every stage of the project. Below mentioned are  few ways in which you can  improve the testing processes:
1. Proper Planning: Test Planning activity produces a test plan specific to a level of testing (e.g. system testing). These test levels should state how the test strategy and project test plan apply to that level of testing and state exceptions to them. While producing a test plan, clearly define the scope of the testing and state all the assumptions need to make. State the completion criteria to be used to determine when this level of testing is complete.
2. Involvement of testers at the early stage: At the very initial stage of project development (requirement gathering), testers should be involved in the project which helps to find and correct bugs at the initial stage of the project. Later stage involvement will affect the testing process.
3. Documentation: Documentation is often taken as the major part of the testing process. Documentation always helps to testers to get into the project detail in-depth. To understand the project basics documenting the project requirements is not a wasteful exercise. As per my past experience it is seen that most of the companies do not take documentation very seriously at the  early stages of project which may result in more problems in later stages of project. If a new tester joins any ongoing project at the middle/last stage then the documentation of that project will be the better start of him/her to involve in that project.
4. Domain Knowledge: If a tester is assigned to any project and what if he/she don’t have enough domain knowledge of that project? He/she need to quickly grasp as many concepts as they can. To understand the project it’s very required to have good domain knowledge. Have a look on online resources about the domain on which the test application is based. Attend the trainings on such domain or meet the domain experts. Organization should also provide in-house trainings before assigning any domain specific projects to testers.
5. Communication Gap: Putting developers and testers together goes a long way toward improving communication between these two groups. To get the in-depth knowledge of a project, one should not have any communication gap between the testers and Business team as well. More knowledge, more transparency of any ongoing project always helps the testing process. Regular meetings can be beneficial to track the progress of the project. Due to this communication gap, testers will lack in-depth knowledge of the testing application which results in unidentified defects.