Agile Testing Principles with Challenges and Solutions

The increasing competition among software applications has increased the value of software testing. With software testing getting more importance and prominence, better methods of testing are being developed to enhance and improve testing techniques. Even the testing is now becoming more complex.

The testing process is now expected to keep in pace with the development process, to assist in the timely delivery of a high-quality system. One such method to assist testing is Agile testing.

Agile testing is a software testing practice based on agile principles. The agile establishes an environment that encourages enhanced collaboration between developers, testers, and business analysts to test the application and provide constant feedback on the quality and fix b in the same iteration.

In Agile Testing, the testers and developers are required to have a good collaboration. The testers give feedback to the developers during the development cycle only. 

Agile Testing Principles

The main Agile Testing Principles are:

1. Continuous testing in agile testing the testing is done continuously to be in pace with the development.

2. Continuous feedback while testing is performed continuously, testers also ensure to provide continuous feedback based on their testing to the developer, so that developers can make changes at the early stages.

3. Involving the whole team agile testing involves all testers, developers and business analysts testing the software.

4. Quick feedback Agile testing offers continuous and quick feedback from the business teams. Getting early feedback reduces time delays because of delayed feedbacks and development.

5. High-level software quality since agile testing supports regular testing and feedback, the corrections are also done in the same iteration ensuring a higher level of software quality.

6. Less documentation Agile supports reusable checklists and it focuses on current customer needs instead of broad, documented requirements and instructions.

7. Test-driven in agile testing the product is evaluated at the time of implementation.

8. Customer satisfaction In agile testing the customers are exposed to the software during the development only. It gives them the chance to adapt and update the requirement at the development phase only, ensuring higher satisfaction of the customers. 

Challenges in Agile Testing (And Solution for them)

Though agile testing has many benefits, at the same time it possesses many challenges also.

1. Changing Requirements
2. Not Enough Information
3. Continuous Testing
4. Technical Skills
5. Frequent Regression Cycles
6. Lack of Communication
7. No Quality Measurement

Let’s take a closer look at each of these problems and possible answers.

1. Changing Requirements: If there are any changes or drop stories during the sprint, the testing already half-done has to be discarded. It changes the scope of testing suddenly and the testing work has to be started again for the changing stories.

Solution: With every change in requirement, the tester should ensure to share as much information as they can with their team. Information like which all test cases are executed, which parts of the software are not yet tested, etc. It can give the developers an idea on how to change the code without hurting its quality.  

2. Not Enough Information: The business owners, who write the user stories, might know the features they want in the software but might not be aware of the specifics. They cannot document the acceptance criteria properly. In such a scenario with improper documentation and information, testers may find it hard to write extensive test cases.

Solution: Testers can start testing with the information available with them, they can later have an extensive round of testing when things are clearer or the change comes in. 

3. Continuous Testing: In Agile testing, the testing tester has to start testing from the very beginning even before the developer starts the development process, this situation is pretty challenging for the testers. The testing goes on continuously along with the development, posing big-time challenges for the testers.

Solution: Testers, developers, and product owners can directly discuss the details of user stories and can create efficient acceptance criteria. They should also make sure that every story has enough acceptance criteria.

4. Technical Skills: In Agile Testing, testers need to have good technical knowledge. They have to assist developers in integration testing, API testing, and scripting UI automation checks. 

Solution: Testers can learn scripting languages and can take a developer’s help. They can learn automated testing tools like Selenium tool and JMeter.

5. Frequent Regression Cycles: In agile testing, developers continuously add features to the software. It makes testers to conduct regression testing to detect the problem. In such scenarios, manual testing is a bad idea.

In a current digital scenario where your product has to be compatible with various devices, OS, etc it again becomes a painstaking task to perform an intricate round of testing. 

Solution: Agile testers can use automation and can rely on various automated tools for various purposes. They can also run tests in parallel on various browsers and machines.  

6. Lack of Communication: The lack of communication of testers with developers and business owners can be challenging for testers while performing testing.

Solution: Testers should indulge in as much communication with developers and business owners as they can. It will help them get a deep insight into the user stories and acceptance criteria. It can help create extensive test cases for them. 

7. No Quality Measurement: Agile testing has no single unit of measuring their testing efforts, which is again challenging for testers to measure their efforts.

Solution: Use quality measures that can be measured, like test coverage, defect density, and test automation ROI, to keep track of and evaluate how well testing is working during Agile sprints.

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FAQs

What are the agile methodology’s four fundamental principles?

The four fundamental principles of agile methodology are Customer satisfaction, Continuous testing, High-level software quality, and Involving the whole team.

• Consumer Satisfaction: Providing value early and consistently in order to meet consumer needs.
• Continuous testing: Continuous testing entails testing at regular intervals throughout the development process to assure continuing quality.
• High-Level Software Quality: Ensuring high-quality software through frequent feedback and iterations.
• Involving the Entire Team: Promoting collaboration among developers, testers, and business stakeholders to produce better results.

What are the Agile testing levels?

Agile testing levels include:

• Unit Testing: The process of testing individual components in isolation.
• Integration Testing: The process of verifying that modules or systems that have been combined function properly.
• System Testing: The process of ensuring that the entire system complies with the requirements.
• Acceptance Testing: The process of verifying that the software is compatible with the business requirements and is prepared for release.

What are the best practices for Agile testing?

• Begin testing early and continue throughout the development process.
• Foster collaboration among testers, developers, and business analysts.
• Prioritise test automation for managing frequent changes and regressions.
• Provide continual input to allow for quick modifications.
• Establish clear and explicit acceptance criteria for effective testing.

What are some of the advantages of agile development?

• Higher perceived value
• Faster market introduction
• High quality
• Flexibility
• Risk reduction
• Excludes technical debt

What are the key tools used in Agile testing?

 Selenium is a common tool for automation in Agile testing, while JIRA is used for project management and issue tracking. Postman is used for API testing, and Jenkins is used for continuous integration and delivery.

Conclusion: 

Agile testing was introduced to curb the limitations of the existing testing model. With agile testing the process of software development became fast. It also ensured better quality products.

A set of principles were described to ensure the agile team follow a streamlined method. But the acceptance of agile testing brought with it a few more challenges that the testers had to face while following agile methodology.

Though, these challenges had effective solutions which made agile testing as one of the widely accepted methodologies of software development and software testing around the world. 

Contact us for a free consultation on how Agile testing can streamline your software development process.