Software testing remains shrouded by myths and facts since its early days. It used to be a normal tendency during system development cycles and software quality assurance failed to get enough attention by the developers as well as the managers; as projects were executed with ‘test last’ approach.
Not anymore.
Developers and Testers refrain from seeing each other as a nuisance and realize that the surest way to make the software work properly is to conduct tests in close co-ordination with each other as a poorly tested software means brand injury, competitive threat or even revenue loss for the company.
A prolonged development cycle or a shortened testing cycle ultimately means a misalignment amongst the development teams and the testing teams resulting in two major problems, inferior quality of software and also poor estimation of resources.
We come face to face with the Agile testing methodology today, which is a ‘test first, test continuously’ approach. Agile testing reduces all such risks and also gives appropriate and workable solutions that help the company attain the technical as well as business goals.
Increasing the Effectiveness of Testing by Agile Testing Methodology
Agile Testing integrates testing as part of the development process, rather than considering it as a different phase. Since testing is part of the development process, it is active gets done throughout the programming phase.
The software testing team is convened as a cross-functional team, with a good mix of people with capabilities of testing and business expertise. The overall project is better defined and chances of delivering superior quality software get closer to the perfect percentage.
Having such an approach during the development cycle, allows the team to maintain the speed of the project, as testing occurs in real-time. This allows developers to solve any issues in the executables during the development process itself.
The Modus Operandi of Agile Testing
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- The complete team, including programmers, testers, and software quality assurance managers, analyzes the business requirements and define the goals of the software.
- Once requirements and goals are defined, the QA team defines the test plan, which is then validated by the entire team.
- Then, along with software development, proper documentation of test case designing is initiated and submitted to the development team. This exercise is carried out to avoid unnecessary test cases and remain focused on actually what is needed. The team at this stage also decides which test cases will be automated during the testing.
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- Once the product is ready for testing, quick testing on the development environment is done to eliminate early-stage defects. Automated test cases are run on a daily basis, up to the time of final implementation to avoid any defects found and fix them on a priority basis.
- Once testing on the development environment is done, the QA team begins testing the product on the QA environment. If any defect is found at this stage, it is reported to the development team again.
- This cycle goes on until the software is certified as being fool-proof and this cycle is responsible for increasing the effectiveness of testing with Agile Testing.
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Advantages of Agile Testing Methodology
An Agile development team includes Testers and Software Quality Assurance Managers as important members, and they are considered as active contributors in planning as well as requirement analysis. This makes every team member responsible for the quality as well as the final result of the product.
Also, since testers are given equal importance as developers from the onset of the projects, it encourages them to share their views and concerns with the programmers and the customers, participating in the meetings to define the business flow for the project as well during iterative exercises with the programmers.
This also ensures maintaining methodical records of requirements, test cases, and bugs.
Words of Caution for Agile Testing
Agile testing methodology turns out to be of tremendous help to the projects that have a clear scenario, it is not beneficial if the ultimate goals of the requirements are not certain. With hazy requirements, the changes in requirements would definitely turn into nightmarish conditions.
- Challenges and significant efforts that are already put in by the team in the initial stages of the development and testing process go to vain in case of changes to requirements of the software.
- If changes in the estimations of team size occur, major realignments in the teams arise, leaving team members disoriented.
Agile Test Automation for Software Testing
One of the most critical components of Agile testing is automation, as without that it would not be possible to keep up with the development schedule.
Agile Testing is usually predefined by the whole team at the onset of the project along with the exact components that would be tested using automation. As automated testing and areas where it would be deployed are predefined, the team also prioritizes how to handle the bugs identified during the testing.
Automation works better than the traditional test cases in approaches like continuous integration, integrated test execution and automated deployment. These tests consist of unit tests that are capable of testing the most intricate portions of the software making it possible to test the product multiple times per day or even more frequently if required; with better accuracy.
Popular Agile Automation Testing Tools
Automation Testing tools are used to implement Agile methodologies and top the popularity charts.
An appropriate and prudent test strategy is the call of the day today. Software Testing Solution ensures the right mix of traditional and modern Testing approaches and provides support through the Testing Life Cycles. The unbiased test reports help smoother implementations with near-zero post-delivery defects and higher customer satisfaction.
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