Testing is an essential aspect of the software development process. It involves discovering bugs and glitches in the code and eliminating them to provide a high-quality, error-free product. Development teams have been using traditional testing methodologies for years, but the increasing adoption of agile development methodologies has accelerated the use of agile testing practices Let’s take a deep dive into the Agile Testing Process .
Here’s a quick guide to the agile testing process, along with its importance and best practices.
What Is Agile Testing?
Agile testing is a collective term used to describe testing procedures that follow the principles of agile software development. It includes conducting frequent and automated testing of code alongside the development process to identify and fix defects in real-time With agile testing, QA engineers can get involved in the testing process from the beginning, reduce the cost of defects, and save time and money.
Read also: DevOps Best Practices to Strategic Continuous Testing
What Are The Key Elements of Agile Methodology?
Agile testing comprises the following principles:
- Continuous Feedback: In addition to continuous testing, agile testing also comprises distributing test results and obtaining feedback from customers and stakeholders to build the best possible product.
- Face-to-Face Communication: Consistent, real-time communication is another crucial element of agile testing. Testers must communicate directly with developers and other decision-makers to understand expectations and eliminate discrepancies.
- Value for Customers: The paramount principle of the agile methodology is to create value for the customers. The end goal of agile testing is to offer the best customer experience.
- Simplicity: An agile testing process is simple and sophisticated. Testers only run tests that are necessary, and the focus of testing is to create a product that’s simple and user-friendly.
- Continuous Improvement: Agile testing comprises continuous learning, with agile testers constantly learning new things to improve the product.
- Response to Change: Agility, at its core, is all about responding to change efficiently. QA engineers need to be flexible and respond to feedback coming from user stories and other changes in the industry.
To understand agile testing better, let’s compare it with traditional testing methods. The conventional method, also known as the traditional waterfall method, comprises the following stages:
- Requirements
- Design
- Implementation
- Verification
- Maintenance
The drawback to this method is that one step begins only after the previous step is completed. The testing team begins the testing late in the development cycle, and the product catches several bugs by this time. Eliminating these errors from the product is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming.
Besides, this method lacks continuous feedback and real-time communication, which makes the testing process vague and increases guesswork. All of this results in high time to market, low efficiency, and increased costs.
Agile testing replaces this waterfall method by a parallel structure where testers can begin testing from the early stages of the development cycle. They can identify and eliminate bugs as they appear, making the testing process faster and more efficient.
What is the Importance of Agile Testing?
Software testing is an integral part of the software development process. It enables you to release high-quality, bug-free products that offer the best customer experience, reduce churn, and facilitate business growth. However, implementing the right testing approach is essential if you want to leverage the benefits of testing.
Agile testing makes the software testing process faster and more flexible, enabling you to reduce time to market and increase productivity. Let’s look at some benefits of agile testing.
Save Time
Development and testing are performed simultaneously in agile testing. QA engineers can discover problems and fix them in the initial stage, which helps save time in the development and testing stages. This test-driven approach enables companies to capture accurate unit testing, which isn’t possible in the conventional testing method. In agile testing, testers write test cases before the development stage, which accelerates both development and testing.
Improve Collaboration and Communication
Agile testing enables clear and real-time communication between the development and testing teams, which is missing in conventional testing. The two teams can collaborate and prevent a lot of complex issues and glitches. This isn’t possible when the teams work in silos.
Integrate Business and Technology Teams
In addition to integrating the development and testing teams, agile testing also brings the technology and business teams together. The technology team has a clear understanding of the business perspective, enabling them to remain customer-centric and align the development goals with business goals.
Ensure Desired End-Result
In the traditional waterfall method, teams work in silos, and achieving the desired end result in the first attempt is rare. The product has to undergo a series of modifications and corrections before it is ready to be released. This increases the time to market. Agile testing dismantles these silos and speeds up product launch.
Simplify the Maintenance Process
Agile testing involves continuous testing and resolution of issues, making maintenance easier and cost-effective. Besides, multiple developers and testers work simultaneously, which brings many perspectives to the maintenance process and reduces the risk of errors.
What are the Different Agile Testing Practice?
Agile testing is the norm in today’s software development industry. However, enterprises must follow these agile testing best practices to make their testing process more efficient.
Maintain Code Austerity
While conducting tests, QA engineers must ensure that the austerity of the code is retained and remains understandable. The code should allow upgrades and enhancements if needed. Also, testers must ensure code sanctity and avoid code merge issues.
Run Repetitive Tests
Agile testing is the most effective when done regularly. Conducting recurring tests will enable you to identify every issue and overcome it immediately. Ideally, QA engineers should conduct a test after every small code movement.
Communicate In-Person with Developers
Communication is an essential element of the agile methodology. For agile testing to be effective, testers need to communicate with developers in-person to ensure both teams are on the same page and there are no discrepancies.
Wrap Up
Agile testing has become the norm among QA engineers, as it enables continuous testing and real-time elimination of errors. By implementing agile testing, development teams can overcome traditional testing challenges like high time to market, slow development, and high maintenance costs. Agile testing goes hand-in-hand with agile development and improves organizational productivity, customer experience, and business growth.
