Agile Methodology in Testing for Successful Software Development
Development teams are gaining huge benefits through the tactical implementation of agile methodologies in order to streamline the development process, decrease the production times and ensure that the quality is scaled up. Within the agile environment, software testing has also gained entry, so that customer and development needs can be aligned strategically and productively.
In this article, you will get to know the significance of agile methodology in software testing.
What is agile testing?
It is a tactical process that focuses on making the QA framework more effective and flexible. Through the agile testing approach, the tester can work more efficiently in the SDLC process by executing tests on a continuous basis and thus getting strategic feedback from developers, customers and other stakeholders.
The necessity of an agile test plan:
Agile test plan focuses on the types of testing done in that iteration like test environments, infrastructure, data requirements and test results. For every release, a typical test plan is written and updated. A typical agile test plan includes:
1. Testing the new functionalities
2. The types of level of testing is based on the complexity of features
3. Considering the necessary infrastructure
4. Performance and load testing
5. Planning and mitigating risks
Agile testing strategies:
The agile testing life cycle consists of four stages as follows:
1. Iteration 0: Initial setup tasks are performed during the first stage. It includes identifying people for scheduling resources (usability testing lab), installing testing tools and testing. Following are the steps that need to be considered in this stage:
· A business case needs to be established for the project
· The project scope and boundary conditions need to be established
· The use cases and key requirements need to be outlined that will drive the design trade-offs
· Candidate architectures need to be outlined
· Risk identification
· Estimating cost and preparing a preliminary project.
2. Construction iterations: The majority of the testing activities take place in this stage. An increment of solution is built by observing a set of iterations. Within each iteration, hybrid practices are implemented by teams from agile data, agile modeling and scrum. The prioritized requirement practice is followed by agile the team. With each iteration, key requirements from the work item stack are taken and then implemented.
Construction iteration is divided into confirmatory testing and investigative testing. Confirmatory testing ensures that the system is verified to fulfill the stakeholder’s intent as described and performed by the team. In the investigative testing scenario, the problems pertaining to confirmatory teams that are ignored or skipped are detected.
In confirmatory testing, there are two aspects that need to be taken into consideration and those are agile acceptance testing and developer testing. Automation of both these testing methods takes place so that continuous regression testing is enabled throughout the lifecycle. Agile acceptance testing is a combination of both traditional acceptance testing and traditional functional testing as both stakeholders and the development team is involved in it.
In investigative testing, the problems in the form of defect stories are determined by the testers.
3. Transition phase: The goal of this stage is to ensure that the system is successfully deployed into production. Some of the key activities included in this stage are supporting key members, training end users etc. It also includes finalization of system, back-up and restoration, marketing of the product release and user documentation.
Acceptance testing and full system testing are included in this testing stage. The teams should also focus on testing the products more rigorously.
4. Production stage: This is the final stage where the product is moved onto the production stage.
Conclusion:
If you are looking forward to implementing agile testing for your specific software project, then do get connected with a premium software testing services company that will provide you with a viable testing strategy in line with your project requirements.
About the author: I am a technical content writer focused on writing technology specific articles. I strive to provide well-researched information on the leading market savvy technologies.