Agile In Software Testing: How It Works
Agile testing is a practice that follows the rules of an agile software development life cycle. Unlike traditional models, where all the quality-related procedures begin after a dev team wraps up the coding part, the QA process in agile starts earlier — for example, simultaneously with requirements writing and last to the release.
In agile, testing is not sequential but continuous. This explanation has already become common knowledge, but it still remains rather vague. So let’s dig deeper and learn how agile in software testing works and what testing practices an average QA company applies.
Agile Methodology In Testing: Does It Work?
According to the rules and principles of agile methodology, the testing process is integrated into development (i.e. code writing) directly. Therefore, a QA team gets an opportunity to discover bugs early and often, at every point of the development process. Early fixing is always a good idea. On the one hand, developers still remember the nuances of a particular feature well. On the other hand, bugs don’t file up in the future.
The most distinctive feature of the agile methodology in software testing is its continuity: a QA process is not a phase — it is ongoing. Agility, however, stretches beyond timing. Everyone in the team can participate in the testing activities if they want to. All the sides provide continuous feedback throughout the development process.
Agile QA specialists are collaborative and prefer face-to-face communication to technologies. It helps to find common ground with other team members faster and easier. Also, a software testing team should be able to respond quickly to new changes in product requirements or strategy. That requires self-organization, an ability to improvise, and a good understanding of a product.
Best Practices of Agile Testing
There are several commonly-used practices that help to make agile methodologies in testing especially effective, in particular: test automation, test-driven development, acceptance test-driven development, exploratory testing, and session-based testing.
Test Automation Services
Fast-paced development that lies in the core of agile would be impossible without at least a bit of automation. It is a common practice to automate unit tests that usually belong to the developers’ area of responsibility. As your code grows, it becomes more time-consuming to run manual checkups. Automation helps to achieve broader test coverage.
Automated unit testing helps to detect the defects in the smallest elements that are cheaper and easier to fix, especially at the early stages. And as the components that fall under unit tests are small and specific features, they are straightforward to automate. For a finished product, unit testing becomes the basis for quick fixes.
A regression testing suite is one more candidate for automation. Again, short iterations and frequent releases require running regression every two to three weeks. Thus, automating this part would save a lot of time.
In general, test automation helps to reduce the number of time-consuming tasks, boosting team productivity. There can be many more types of testing you can automate. A good QA team will advise you on this and create an effective strategy.
Test-Driven Development
A good example of TDD is writing failing unit tests. So first, a developer creates a test script expected to fail and then creates a piece of code for this test. This practice forces developers to pay attention to detail, taking into account all possible inputs, errors, and outputs. Failing test cases also make it easier to pinpoint the problems in the future.
Acceptance Test-Driven Development
For ATDD, team members with different perspectives (QA engineers, developers, analysts, etc.) collaborate to write acceptance tests in advance and with a focus on the user’s point of view. Test cases created for ATDD can act as a form of requirements.
Exploratory Testing
Exploratory tests are not scripted but generated by agile QA engineers as they start interacting with a product. It means that the specialists are not familiar with the requirements and independent of any pre-written test cases. In a way, it is the closest practice to an average user interacting with a software product.
Though exploratory testing may sound like an amateur approach, it is not one. QA specialists have enough knowledge and experience to improvise with testing and detect areas that require increased attention.
Session-Based Testing
Session-based testing is better-structured exploratory testing. The idea is to divide the process into multiple sessions of equal duration that will be devoted solely to testing — without any breaks or distractions. Each testing session is followed by creating a test plan, outlining the strategy, and, of course, reporting on the quality and detected defects.
Benefits & Challenges of the Agile Model In Testing
Agile is known for its dynamic iterative development. It means that requirements can evolve throughout the project, and the QA strategy has to be very flexible as well. This feature reveals some advantages and challenges for a testing team.
Benefits of Agile Model In Software Testing
What makes agile development a good idea? The key highlights that make agile practices attractive for companies and project teams are related to flexibility and a faster pace of development.
- Shorter feedback cycle. On the one hand, regular daily meetings help everyone in the team keep up with the progress, as well as comment on existing and potential issues or highlights. On the other hand, frequent releases provide the team with client feedback so they can make the product a better fit for the audience.
- Less documentation. Frequent discussions make an abundance of written information unnecessary. Although it is still necessary to document the key requirements, they are often post-documented, so it is possible to avoid unnecessary paperwork that comes with every change.
- Better quality of an end product. Agile makes it possible for QA engineers to find more defects at the early stages, so it is easier to fix them. Meanwhile, continuous feedback rule encourages frequent discussions. Thus, QA engineers keep track of all the updates in business requirements and can advise on some changes as well.
- Faster product delivery. There is no need to wait until coding ends to start testing the product. Therefore, development becomes more dynamic and less lengthy. It also becomes easier to meet customer expectations and release a product that will be relevant and useful.
Challenges of Agile Model In Software Testing
Nothing is perfect, and agile isn’t going to make the process smooth by default. There are some things you should be aware of before adopting this model.
- Due to the frequent changes, testing activities can lack a structure that ensures comprehensive product QA.
- Heavy focus on user experience will benefit customers and guarantee positive feedback, but not necessarily have expected business outcomes.
- If one member of the so closely integrated team leaves, it can result in a major setback. In this case, minimum documentation and heavy reliance on personal communication can be a disaster.
Scrum Methodology In Testing
Scrum methodology is one of the widely-used agile methodologies, along with Lean, Kanban, and others. In a way, Scrum is a framework used to resolve complex problems while simultaneously working on the release.
So before we move to the agile Scrum methodology in software testing, I’d like to explain (or remind you about) some theoretical moments. There are three pillars of Scrum:
The QA roles in Scrum aren’t described in detail since these specialists are a part of the “Team,” along with developers, designers, and other specialists. A Scrum team is cross-functional and, thus, self-sufficient. That is, they can cover all tasks with team resources and don’t need directions from the outside.
Scrum testing is based on effective collaboration between the team members. A QA engineer can always reach out for help to analysts, developers, etc. and expect to receive the help immediately. Frequent communication, deep involvement, and readiness to share responsibilities (for example, to participate in user acceptance testing, beta testing, etc.) ensure the success of the team. Moreover, the team has the flexibility to adjust when an abrupt change is required.
Speaking about the testing activities in Scrum, they are a part of the sprint that lasts 15 to 30 days. While developers work on fixes or new features, QA specialists prepare and update test cases to be ready to jump in when the time comes. And as you already know, it is a perfect environment for exploratory testing.
Despite its dynamic nature, Scrum in software testing is driven by relevant metrics and transparent reporting. These aspects allow the team to analyze their progress and plan the nearest activities — in particular, to decide whether the current release plan remains relevant or requires updates.
For instance, a burndown chart mentioned above is one of the main documents in Scrum development. A Scrum Master updates a burndown chart daily to estimate the remaining scope of work and share the information with the team.
Bottom Line: When to Involve QA Outsource
The earlier you involve software testing services, the better. In traditional development models, planning the QA process early is a way to avoid a pre-release rush and all the related troubles. Meanwhile, agile models open more opportunities for QA specialists. In particular, agile methods in testing allow teams to engage QA specialists at the beginning of development or at least at the early phases when there is some stable functionality to work with. So don’t wait until the coding is over to start looking for a QA provider, especially when you have a dynamic Scrum team working on a product.
