Since the publication of the Agile Manifesto in February 2001, agile testing has grown to become one of the key ways for making a difference in the software development life cycle (SDLC). It helps software developers to increase their end-to-end delivery velocity, quickly move code into production, and bring their software into use.
There are a number of best practices for agile testing that can help software development teams improve their product quality and release cycle times. In this article, we will explore the top five.
What is agile testing?
Agile testing is an evaluation methodology that is based on the principles of agile software development.
It is a collaborative process between developers and the QA team that emphasizes iterative development and constant communication. This helps to provide timely feedback so that developers can make changes to the code as early as possible and ensure that the final product is of high quality and meets the needs of the customer.
There are many benefits to agile testing, such as the ability to catch defects early, improved communication between developers and the QA team, and a more efficient development process overall.
If you're thinking about implementing it in your software development process, be sure to keep the following agile testing practices in mind.
1. Keep your code lean and simple
Agile testing is all about being lean and flexible. This means maintaining the austerity of your code, keeping it clean, simple, and easy to understand.
You don't need to write a ton of code to get the job done—just enough to satisfy your test case. This strategy will help reduce the amount of time it takes for the QA team to understand what's happening in your application. It will also significantly reduce the assessment and review process.
2. Communicate face-to-face with developers
The role of the QA team is to reduce the risk of errors and bugs in the application, and one of the quickest ways to get this done is to ensure collaboration between developers and QA teams.
An open line of communication between these two parties is crucial for developing effective evaluations. Collaboration means that the test team can learn more about the application from the developer, and the developer can provide insights that may come in handle during the assessment process.
3. Focus on a single functional aspect at a time
It's tempting to try and assess everything at once, but this approach will often lead to false positives. Instead, focus on one feature at a time, then check how many issues were found after each check-in. You should ensure the test case is correct and review it for accuracy as this is one of the most important elements when checking the software's features and functionalities.
4. Use TDD when necessary
One of the leading safe agile practice test processes is test-driven development or TDD. TDD is a method that requires developers to write unit test cases before they write code and then refactor their code until it meets the desired specifications. The goal of TDD is to write software that is easy to change, as well as easy to examine.
It is important to point out here that there are certain scenarios where TDD works more effectively than others. For example, it is a good idea to use TDD for quick-to-test development. However, using it for complex operations can be counterproductive.
5. Make sure to test multiple times
Agile testing requires more than just one run-through of your application. In fact, one of the best practices in agile is multiple checks. You should always be testing multiple times so that you can catch any issues that may arise during the first run-through.
The rule of thumb here is to run a test before coding, another one after coding, and another after code refactoring. Whenever you move code, change code, or merge code, run a new check. This is to ensure that no code is broken during any of the coding processes, that the code adheres to the requirements, and is maintainable.
Conclusion
Agile testing helps organizations deliver high-quality software products faster and more efficiently.
By following the best practices in agile automation testing covered in this list, you should be well on your way to success with agile testing. Just remember to always keep the customer in mind, work closely with your team, check multiple times, automate, and consider investing in an agile software tester like the example on the site https://aqua-cloud.io/agile-testing-tool.
And if you are looking to improve your QA process, you may want to consider aqua. With our cutting-edge test management tool, you can be sure of results that will improve your software products.
