Software development is becoming more and more complex every day, and with the boom of the IT industry, it is also becoming increasingly popular. As of 2019, there are around 26.4 million software developers in the world, and by 2023, the number of developers is estimated to be around 27.7 million. This only includes the developers in the industry. The number of people employed in the overall software development sector is obviously going to be much higher.
It is a constantly growing field that has new approaches coming up regularly to help keep up with the complexity of the development approaches. One of the most widely used approaches to software development is Agile testing. Agile Testing Methodology is a new-age approach gaining popularity because it focuses on reducing the effort that goes into testing and still delivering products of high quality. Agile testing focuses on testing smarter instead of testing more.
The reason Agile testing is popular is that it increases the level of collaboration between testers and developers. There is more corrective feedback given to the developers in each development cycle. Testing teams and development teams work closely together and their integration helps in improving the overall quality of the product.
What is Agile Testing?
Agile methodologies for software development have been included in improving the testing methods for products as well. This software testing process is known as Agile Testing Methodology. It works with the iterative approach to software development that comes with the Agile methodology, in the sense that it focuses on the gradually developing requirements of any product from the customer and testing team. The development process with each iteration is then aligned to these requirements.
Normally, the testing methods are sequential, but when it comes to Agile testing, the process is continuous. The Agile Testing Methodology process begins at the start of the project itself and is integrated with the development team. The developers and testers both have a common objective that they work together to achieve: delivering a product of high quality.
Life Cycle of Agile Testing
The Agile Testing Methodology can be divided into five main phases. This life cycle takes place from the beginning of the project until it is complete. The phases are as follows:
- Impact Assessment – This is the first phase where testers gather inputs from all the stakeholders and users and give to the development team as feedback for their next iteration
- Agile Testing Planning – The second phase of Agile testing involves bringing together the stakeholders to plan all the details of the testing process such as the schedule, frequency of the meetings, and the deliverables needed
- Release Readiness – The third phase of the testing process includes reviewing all the features that the development team has deployed in the product and checking them for bugs
- Daily Scrums – This phase is not necessarily the fourth phase, but is actually the daily meetings for the team to check the status of the project on a regular basis
- Test Agility Review – The final phase is the Test Agility Review phase, where the tea meets with the stakeholders to review all the features deployed in the iteration and assess the overall project
Principles of Agile Testing
There are different principles that are involved when teams want to practice Agile Testing Methodology to help them achieve their goals. These include:
- All Agile Testing is continuous: Agile teams make testing a regular practice and perform tests regularly so that they can guarantee the continuous progress of the overall project and product development
- The feedback in Agile testing is continuous: Due to the regular nature of Agile testing, the feedback provided to the developers and stakeholders is also continuous and takes place on an ongoing basis to make sure all business needs of the product are being met
- Agile testing includes the entire Agile team: Unlike the traditional method of testing where only the test team is responsible for the testing in the software development life cycle, Agile testing involves the developers, the testers as well as the business analysts to test the product
- Agile testing reduces the time of feedback response: Agile testing involves the entire team as well as stakeholders with each iteration of the project, giving the team continuous feedback throughout the project’s lifecycle, which reduces the time to include the response to the feedback given
- Agile testing focuses on creating simplified and clean code: All the defects found by the Agile team are fixed in the same iteration, which means the code used by the developers is both clean and simplified
- Agile testing reduces documentation: Instead of creating a new checklist, Agile teams reuse their checklist made by the team and just add to it while testing instead of focusing on the incidental details
- Agile projects are always test-driven: With Agile teams, the product is tested when it is being implemented instead of after the implementation process
Agile Testing Methods
There are three main methods of Agile testing discussed in detail below:
- Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
- Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)
- Exploratory Testing
Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
This method is focused on improving communication between all the stakeholders involved in the project. This improves the understanding of each and every feature that needs to be included in the product before the development process begins. The communication is ongoing and based on examples. This communication involves the following stakeholders:
- The team of developers
- The team of testers
- Business analysts
The examples used in the BDD testing method are called Scenarios. They are written using a special format known as Gherkin Given/When/Then syntax and they include details about how each feature needs to behave in different situations using different input parameters.
Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)
In the ATDD method of Agile testing, team members with different perspectives are involved. These members include the following:
- Customers
- Developers
- Testers
They meet to create acceptance tests that include the perspectives of the parties mentioned above and aim to include the different points of focus for each party.
- Customers are focused on finding the problems that need to be solved
- The developers are focused on finding the ways in which the customers’ problems can be solved
- The testers are focused on finding problem areas
This method of testing represents the user’s point of view. They focus on the ‘how’ aspect of the features and help in checking if each feature works the way it was intended to.
Exploratory Testing
The Exploratory testing method focuses on creating workable software over documentation of the process. The design and execution phases of these tests go hand in hand. The main priority of this testing method is customer collaboration and interactions over contract negotiation and processes and tools.
This method of testing is the most adaptable to any changes because the testers explore the application to identify its functionalities. They learn and understand the application so that they can design and execute their tests based on what they find. It is a customized approach to testing.
Final Thoughts
Successful Agile testing requires a certain level of knowledge and expertise which can only come once the Agile team is certified and trained in Agile processes. To gain an in-depth understanding of Agile methodologies, techniques, and principles, getting trained in popular Agile Certification Courses is highly recommended.
Some of the popular Agile Certification Courses that individuals and enterprise teams can take up are:
