The Role and Implementation of Agile Software Testing

Agile Testing is a type of software testing that follows the principles of agile software development to test the software application. All members of the project team, along with the special experts and testers, are involved in agile testing. Agile testing is not a separate phase, and it is carried out with all the development phases, i.e. requirements, design and coding, and test case generation. Agile testing takes place simultaneously throughout the Development Life Cycle.

Agile testers participate in the entire development life cycle along with development team members, and the testers help in building the software according to the customer requirements and with better design, and thus, code becomes possible. The agile testing team works as a single team towards the single objective of achieving quality.

Agile Testing has shorter time frames called iterations or loops. This methodology is also called the delivery-driven approach because it provides a better prediction of the workable products in less duration time.

➡️ Features of Agile Testing

Some of the key features of agile software testing are:

🔹Simplistic Approach: In agile testing, testers perform only the necessary tests but, at the same time, do not leave behind any essential tests. This approach delivers a product that is simple and provides value.

🔹Continuous Improvement: In agile testing, agile testers depend mainly on feedback and self-learning for improvement, and they perform their activities efficiently and continuously.

🔹Self-organized: Agile testers are highly efficient and tend to solve problems by bringing teams together to resolve them.

🔹Testers Enjoy Work: In agile testing, testers enjoy their work and thus will be able to deliver a product with the greatest value to the consumer.

🔹Encourage Constant Communication: In agile testing, efficient communication channels are set up with all the stakeholders of the project to reduce errors and miscommunications.

🔹Constant Feedback: Agile testers need to constantly provide feedback to the developers if necessary.

➡️ Agile Test Plan

An agile test plan includes types of testing done in that iteration like test data requirements, test environments, and test results. In agile testing, a test plan is written and updated for every release. The test plan includes the following:

▪️Test Scope.
▪️Testing instruments.
▪️Data and settings are to be used for the test.
▪️Approaches and strategies used to test.
▪️Skills required to test.
▪️New functionalities are being tested.
▪️Levels or Types of testing based on the complexity of the features.
▪️Resourcing.
▪️Deliverables and Milestones.
▪️Infrastructure Consideration.
▪️Load or Performance Testing.
▪️Mitigation or Risks Plan.

➡️ Limitations of Agile Testing

Below are some of the limitations of agile software testing:

🔹Project Failure: In agile testing, if one or more members leave the job, then there are chances for project failure.

🔹Limited Documentation: In agile testing, there is little to no documentation, which makes it difficult to predict the expected results as there are explicit conditions and requirements.

🔹Introduce New Bugs: In agile software testing, bug fixes, modifications, and releases happen repeatedly, which may sometimes result in the introduction of new bugs in the system.

🔹Poor Planning: In agile testing, the team is not exactly aware of the result from day one, so it becomes challenging to predict factors like cost, time, and resources required at the beginning of the project.

🔹No Finite End: Agile testing requires minimal planning at the beginning, so it becomes easy to get sidetracked while delivering the new product. There is no finite end, and there is no clear vision of what the final product will look like.

➡️ Challenges During Agile Testing

Below are some of the challenges that are faced during agile testing:

🔹Changing Requirements: Sometimes, during product development, changes in the requirements or the specifications occur, but when they occur near the end of the sprint, the changes are moved to the next sprint and thus become the overhead for developers and testers.

🔹Inadequate Test Coverage: In agile testing, testers sometimes miss critical test cases because of the continuously changing requirements and continuous integration. This problem can be solved by keeping track of test coverage by analyzing the agile test metrics.

🔹Less Documentation: In agile testing, there is less or no documentation, which makes the task of the QA team more tedious.

🔹Performance Bottlenecks: Sometimes, developer builds products without understanding the end-user requirements and following only the specification requirements, resulting in performance issues in the product. Using a testing tool, performance bottlenecks can be identified and fixed.

🔹Early Detection of Defects: In agile testing, defects are detected at the production stage or at the testing stage, which makes it very difficult to fix them.

🔹Skipping Essential Tests: In agile testing, sometimes agile testers, due to time constraints and the complexity of the test cases, put some of the non-functional tests on hold. This may cause some bugs later that may be difficult to fix.