10 Top Tips for Agile Testing
Agile testing is a software testing practice that follows the principles of agile software development, giving a modern structured methodology for process organization, tasking, and tracking.
Here are few tips to follow for an effective agile testing:
1. Incorporate testers into the development team.
Software testing is done to ensure the quality and efficiency of the software. It can be done effectively only if the testers have at least some knowledge about the software. Integrating the team of testers into the development team helps them have a better understanding of the client’s needs. This helps them develop their process regarding the software. It is always better to have one tester for three programmers while performing agile testing.
2. Perform risk-based testing.
The agile software development model aims at getting the highest quality software to the market within a short amount of time. Therefore, it is important for an agile tester to analyze areas of the software that are changing and how they all fit together. The tester must prioritize the tests based on the areas that pose the highest risk.
3. Review unit tests.
Have the testers review unit tests of applications that tend to pose great risks. The testers can seek the help of developers to know the weakest areas of a software source. Since the testers can identify the test cases executed in the unit tests, they can concentrate on other test cases.
4. Use an automated test framework.
Automated testing helps identify certain defects faster than manual testing. The use of an automated test framework helps maintain the quality throughout the software testing process.
5. Update team members about quality metrics.
While working as a team, it is important for every member to be updated about the results at each stage of the software testing. The best way to do this is to set a screen at a noticeable place in the office to display the quality metrics.
6. Hold a test scrum.
Communication between testers helps in improving the quality and efficiency of the software testing process. When the testers are spread across different teams, it becomes a problem. Therefore, hold a test scrum at least twice a week to improve the communication. Test scrum basically refers to small teams, working in a rigorous and mutually dependent manner.
7. Hold retrospective meetings.
At the end of the testing process, hold retrospective meetings. Discuss how well the process went and the mistakes made. This helps the testers improve their knowledge and find solutions to the problems they faced during the testing process.
8. Plan to manage open problems.
Most of the problems that the testers discover can be solved. However, the process sometimes ends with open problems. In such cases, hold meetings to discuss what can be done to solve those problems in case they happen again in future projects.
9. Choose testing techniques according to the risk.
It is okay to use traditional testing techniques for agile testing but, it is always safer to choose the testing techniques dependent upon the risk category a feature falls into. Exploratory testing technique is used in every category. However, if the risk is high, go for formal testing technique.
10. Test from a customer perspective.
It is always important for the testing process to focus on the end user. After all, the quality of your software is defined by how comfortable the customer finds it to use. Testing from the customer perspective helps identify the quality assurance challenges.
