Agile Testing - Significant Attributes

Agile Testing Benefits

The benefits of Agile testing are −

Customer satisfaction by quick, continuous completely tested product and seeking customer feedback.
Customers, developers, and testers continuously interact with one another, thereby reducing the cycle time.
Agile testers participate in defining requirements contributing their testing expertise to focus on what is workable.
Agile testers participate in estimation assessing testing effort and time.
Early test design reflecting Acceptance Criteria.
Testing requirements consolidated by the whole team, avoiding drawbacks.
Constant focus on quality of the product by the entire team.
Definition of Done status reflecting tests pass ensures that the requirement is met.
Continuous feedback on delays or blockages so that resolution can be made immediately with effort from the whole team.
Quick responses to changing requirements and accommodating them soon.
Continuous integration driven regression testing.
No time delays between development and testing. test first, continuous testing approaches are followed.
Automation testing implemented early in the development lifecycle, thereby reducing total testing time and effort.

Follow the best practices given below −

Inclusion of testers with expertise in all types of testing at all levels.
Testers participating in the definition of requirements, collaborating with customers on the expected behavior of the product.
Testers sharing feedback continuously with the developers and customer.
Test first and continuous testing approaches to align to the development work.
Tracking test status and test progress promptly and constantly with focus on delivering quality product.
Automation testing early in the development lifecycle to reduce cycle time.
To perform Regression Testing leverage Automation Testing as an effective way.

The following challenges exist in Agile testing −

Failure to understand the Agile approach and its limitations by the Business and Management can lead to unachievable expectations.
Agile follows whole-Team approach, but not everyone knows the essentials of Testing Practices. Testers are advised to coach the others, but in real scenario can be impracticable with time-boxed Sprints (Iterations).
Test First Approach requires Developers to base the coding on Tester Feedback, but in real scenarios Developers are more accustomed to base the coding on the Requirements coming from Customer or Business.
Accountability for the Quality Product is with the entire Agile Team, but in initial stages the Developers may not Focus on Quality as they are more into the implementation mode.
Continuous Integration calls for Regression Testing that requires considerable effort, even if it has to be automated.
Testers can be adaptable to changes with the Agile mind-set, but accommodating the resulting Test Changes and Testing can be impracticable to target to finish during the Sprint.
Early Automation is advised so that Manual Testing Effort and Time can be reduced. But, in the real scenario, arriving at the Tests that can be automated and automating them require Time and Effort.

Use the following guidelines while performing Agile Testing.

Participate in Release Planning to identify the required Testing activities and come up with the initial version of test plan.
Participate in estimation session to arrive at testing effort and duration so that testing activities are accommodated in the iterations.
Participate in User Story Definition to arrive at Acceptance Test Cases.
Participate in every Sprint Planning Meeting to understand the scope and update Test Plan.
Continuously collaborate with the Development Team during the Sprint to make Testing and Coding a success well within the Sprint.
Participate in Daily Stand-up Meetings and convey Test Delays or Blockages if any, to receive immediate resolution.
Track and Report Test Status, Test Progress and Product Quality regularly.
Be ready to accommodate changes, responding with modifications to Test Cases, Test Data.
Participate in Sprint Retrospectives to understand and contribute the Best Practices and Lessons Learned.
Collaborate in obtaining Customer Feedback at each Sprint.