Agile Testing Life Cycle: Driving Faster Releases Without Compromising Quality
KiwiQATable of Contents
With the continuous shift to a digital landscape & rising consumer behavior, businesses are looking forward to adopting advancements in technology. 86% of the business leaders are pushing their organization to adopt agile QA practices to release quality products on time. In traditional SDLC, testing is performed when the development is complete.
In this scenario, you may experience a delay in development, and you may have to compromise on quality. On the other hand, Agile testing life cycle promotes an iterative development. It’s a strategic practice that accelerates the product release, optimizes the source & mitigates risk to drive user satisfaction.
This blog breaks down the Agile testing strategies that accelerate test release without compromising quality. Read to find out what are the stages of an agile testing life cycle.
Agile testing life cycle is a software testing practice that aligns with the principles of Agile SDLC. This is a continuous & integrated testing approach that emphasizes the collaboration of developers, testers, & business stakeholders. It allows the testing team to detect and address the errors early, to deliver quality & customer satisfaction. It starts with initial development & integrated into each phase of SDLC. 52% of businesses said they design & execute tests early & speed up testing with Agile testing.
QA is a necessary element of Agile software testing & development. It ensures the product matches the necessary quality standards & quality treatments. Rather than a distinct step of the agile testing life cycle, it is incorporated into the development process. It works on the principle of Test early, test often. In addition, QA professionals are also responsible for evaluating & integrating quality standards. By optimizing the right practices, a business can maintain the caliber of software & release it on a scheduled timeline.
Agile & traditional testing are both software testing practices that fulfill the needs of customers. Agile testing starts with the development process, whereas traditional testing begins when the development process is complete.
Agile testing life cycle is iterative, continuous & integrated test format throughout SDLC. It prioritizes continuous feedback & rapid delivery of software. Traditional testing is sequential-based testing performed after development. It results in less adaptability & higher risk of error discovery later in the development. So, the core difference lies in the approach to the development lifecycle. Agile is a flexible approach, whereas Traditional testing works on a rigid approach.
Testing life cycle in agile is the integrated continuous & iterative process that is performed continuously during development. Traditional testing is a late-stage testing process done after completion. So, traditional testing validates the software quality at the end, which is time-consuming & costly.
Traditional testing methodologies are comprehensive and come with detailed documentation. It involves broader test plans, detailed test cases & designing documentation. Documentations serve as the blueprint that aims to capture the design & requirements. It requires approval and ensures adherence to pre-defined specifications.
Testing life cycle in agile is the lightweight adaptive documentation that aims to deliver comprehensive documentation. Documentation is generated collaboratively throughout the SDLC. Instead of heavy documents, the Agile team aims for direct communication & frequent feedback.
The most significant benefit of testing life cycle phases in agile is that it provides immediate feedback. Testers collaborate with the developers in real-time to detect the loopholes & usability errors early in the development. It limits the error during later stages & allows fast correction.
Coordination between testers, programmers, product owners, and clients is necessary for successful agile testing. A culture of shared ownership is fostered by everyone being responsible for quality. Improved collaboration results, early error detection & improved product quality.
Risks and vulnerabilities can be found before they become more serious since testing starts at the beginning of the cycle. Test automation and security scanning are frequently used by agile teams to verify both functional and non-functional requirements. Many defects are discovered in the early phases of development, even during requirement analysis, because QA engineers are involved early in the process. Testing life cycle phases in agile enables companies to drastically reduce their expenses for correcting bugs in the final stages.
Also Read: Why Security Testing Should Be a Top Priority for Insurance Applications?
In Agile requirement analysis, stakeholders & testers collaborate with the product owners to understand & define the requirements. They monitor the user stories & collect insights from the stakeholders. The initial phases of agile testing life cycle help to set the testing strategy and ensure the final product matches the user demands. The step demands a clear conversation to establish a clear knowledge of testing goals.
The ideas obtained from product analysis are transformed into a structured QA strategy through test planning. The resources are used to assess the release, decided by the test team. Testers and other teams may learn how the testing process will start from the generated test plan documentation.
The scope, goals, kinds of testing, and information on the test environments are frequently included in test plan details. Test management establishes responsibilities and deadlines for the task when these specifics are decided. A good test plan includes risk analysis, resource allocation, backup plans, and test environment details.
The testing team can begin to write & design test cases in the life cycle of agile testing. When designing a test case, the goal of the testing team should be to validate the software functionality within the allotted time & scope. The test case should be simple & unique. It must aim to achieve full coverage of requirements in the document specification.
This phase assists in managing accountability & offers a clear view of test coverage. The test case must be repeatable as the development team adds new features to the product over time. Test cases also need to be maintained & updated over time to validate new & existing functionality. Once it is done, the testing team reviews and upgrades them.
In the next step of the QA testing life cycle in agile, the QA team fully tests the software. In the software testing lifecycle, the testing team executes the test cases as many times as they can. The QA professional integrates the automated scripts to execute functional & non-functional testing. In addition, the testing team runs regression tests frequently. The testing team will identify & report brief errors that arise throughout the execution of the test case. As the developers make fixes, testers often retest the product.
In this phase, the testing team uses agile tools for monitoring errors. It is used to categorize & prioritize the defects. The testing team ensures that the updates & fixes don’t introduce any new errors in the app. In an Agile environment, changes are made frequently and rapidly. The regression testing assists in maintaining the stability of software and its quality in the app. The Agile environment changes are rapid & continuous.
Test cycle closure is the last stage of the STLC. The testing team summarizes their results in this phase. The manager’s permission, an evaluation of the testing, and explanations of the testing process and outcomes are usually included in this report. The testing team examines their deliverables at the final phase of the testing cycle. The closure report contains a brief about the testing strategy, documentation, and test results.
The company then organizes the product’s delivery and support, which frequently involves client representatives’ approval and input. In this STLC phase, communication is essential because of different viewpoints. These conversations may result in more analysis or provide guidance for future QA job improvement.
Unit testing always focuses on testing individual components of software by directly verifying the code’s behavior. Unit testing refers to the SDLC practice where you can test every unit of the app differently. Unit testing ensures the app works as it should. Unit testing is easy to automate for verifying the accuracy & convenience.
Developers could select the manual method to write & execute the unit test case, ideal for small projects. However, automation is mostly preferred to verify that the unit test runs effectively. For automation testing, the QA team can use frameworks such as Junit and Nunit to streamline the process.
Integration testing is performed for verifying data & workflow across modules. It ensures APIs & services function simultaneously. Individual models or components are combined collectively to validate that they are working simultaneously. Integration testing mainly focuses on identifying the loopholes in the interactions. It focuses on the interface between the modules, data flow & how they interact with each other. It tests whether the app functions well together with the combined function or not. To check whether the app can be implemented in a real-time environment, run integration testing.
System testing verifies that the program satisfies both functional and non-functional criteria by evaluating the whole software application. Integration testing is usually followed by system testing. System testers assess how the software program behaves in a variety of scenarios, including typical and unusual use, to make sure it can manage a range of circumstances. The testing validates the app as a whole, but not only the selected components.
Acceptance testing will verify whether a software app matches the specific acceptance criteria & ready to release or not. The testing is mostly performed by the end-users or stakeholders. They check whether the software matches their needs or purpose. Furthermore, this kind of testing is classified into 2 types: user & business acceptance testing.
User acceptance testing is performed to validate the software accessibility, whereas business acceptance testing is designed to verify that the app functions align best with the organization’s goals. The QA team & product owners collaboratively run this testing to confirm that the product aligns with user needs.
Exploratory testing is the process of test case design, developing tests & executing them all at the same time. Exploratory testing is necessary in Agile since it aligns with the business values. Furthermore, it assists agile teams in collaborating to define the product throughout the development process.
Throughout the testing, the QA team designs a test, executes it, and presents the outcomes. The testing process is iterative & promotes the lightweight, flexible approach to testing. It enables freedom in the testing process & uncovers the unexpected errors present in the app. It complements more structured testing activities.
The practice of testing software applications to make sure that recent code changes, including adding new features or fixing bugs, haven’t negatively impacted already-existing functionalities is known as regression testing. This testing ensures the old features still work perfectly. Its main objective is to identify any unexpected adverse effects that may occur following software modifications. Both automated tools and manual methods can be used for regression testing.
Also Read: API Testing for Retail Systems: Ensuring Seamless Backend Interactions
As we said earlier, the Agile approach works with “test early & often”. The agile model emphasizes the integration of Agile QA throughout the SDLC. They test the product in every sprint & verify the new features are implemented perfectly. Testing early also leads to time & resource saving. Integrating QA practices early in the product lifecycle fosters the mutual understanding between the QA & development teams. Testing must be offered frequently to fix every code and enhancement of updates. Frequent testing also drives quality assurance.
Automation is necessary for agile QA, but it must be done with proactive strategies. It is necessary to automate components of testing that take time & complexity. Automation in the QA Agile process can effectively save time. Over-automation can also cause breakdowns. However, it doesn’t mean to remove the manual testing completely. Manual testing is also required in a few testing scenarios. Automation improves long-term efficiency and collaboration between QA & development teams.
Design an environment where the team can openly share or communicate their ideas. Frequent discussion and exchange of information is what makes an app successful. Foster a feedback-rich atmosphere to make frequent improvements. It guarantees that the product matches the stakeholder expectations.
Opting for transparent testing practices & encouraging the team to share their feelings is one of the best practices to make the STLC process successful. It is necessary to promote a landscape where everyone in a team works together and expresses their ideas. Encourage an environment where everyone is responsible for app success.
The “shift left testing” practices incorporate testing at an early stage of the SDLC. It shifts testing tasks closer to the design and planning phases on the left side of the project schedule. Finding and fixing problems early on is the aim of this testing approach. The following approach limits the cost & time to fix loopholes. It promotes strong collaboration between operations teams, developers, and testers from the very beginning.
TestRail– A centralized platform for test administration, TestRail blends enterprise-level features with a user-friendly, quick design for testers. Through the simplification of test execution procedures, it is especially designed to greatly increase the productivity of the QA team.
Zephyr– This is a SaaS based test management tool that is designed to help the software development & QA team. It helps to manage the testing process & features for crafting, organizing & managing test cases.
Xray– The top Jira-native test management tool, Xray, integrates testing and development for better quality, faster turnaround times, and smooth communication.
Selenium– Selenium is a free-to-use automation tool used for testing web apps. It is accessible on all OS, such as Linux, Windows & Mac. Every major browser is supported.
Cypress– Cypress recognizes every event that your browser initiates and provides it with native access to all of the content in your tests.
Playwright– An open-source automation tool called Playwright. Component, API, and functional testing are all supported by this tool. It also works with a variety of systems, languages, and browsers.
Jenkins– This is widely used as an open-source automation tool, allowing the QA team to automate the multiple stages of SDLC that include development, testing, and deployment.
GitLab CI- This built-in continuous integration, agile software testing life cycle tool promotes faster feedback, improves automation & collaboration.
CircleCI– This is a continuous integration & CI/CD platform integrated into the agile software testing life cycle, which supports automation of multiple aspects of SDLC.
JIRA– Many QA teams utilize Jira, a popular tool for project and issue management, to record defects discovered during manual testing and associate them with particular user stories or development activities.
Bugzilla– An open-source bug tracking program called Bugzilla was created to assist teams in effectively reporting, managing, and resolving bugs. Due to its dependability and adaptability, it has been in use for many years.
Azure DevOps– Azure DevOps offers complete integration with DevOps, testing, and requirements. For businesses that use the Microsoft Tech-stack, it is perfect.
Confluence– This tool facilitates communication and coordination between development and QA teams. It allows the generation and exchange of comprehensive test cases, requirements papers, and outcomes.
Slack– The best team collaboration app available is Slack. It has capabilities including chat, click-and-drag file sharing, screen sharing, audio and video calls, and much more.
Trello– This project management tool improves task visibility and nesting for assigning tasks to the team. It is easy to access.
To overcome test automation errors, businesses should closely collaborate with the developers & testers. Shift-left testing and integration of CI/CD improve the automation error. The testing team should start small & gradually scale the testing process while maintaining the test scripts.
To manage the changing Agile requirements, the team should choose a frequent feedback loop. To overcome this challenge, include a flexible approach and leverage the business with an advanced tool to adapt to evolving needs.
The team should aim to craft necessary documentation to create a living documentation with regular updates. The team should leverage tools for traceability. Businesses should automate the documentation task and focus on clear & concise communication.
Testing life cycle in agile is a necessity to include in SDLC to complete the product in time while maintaining its usability & performance. The QA talent plays a necessary role in conducting frequent testing to calculate the errors & ensure the quality of software. If you want high-quality software, choose an Agile QA partner today.
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