Introduction
Agile has been the go to ways of working in most of the organisations in the recent days. Because of its iterative and incremental delivery it helps organizations, teams and projects to deliver high value items quickly, take feedback and pivot to ensure customers get high value delivered continuously and are satisfied. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, software development teams face the challenge of delivering high-quality products at speed, without compromising on reliability or user satisfaction. And the primary reason for this struggle is the “Shunt Effect” caused at the testing phase.
Agile testing methodology, unlike conventional or traditional project delivery, where testing is just a phase of the project, needs change in the way we look at testing the product continuously. It requires a mindset shift towards improving quality at all the stages of the product lifecycle. Delay in traditional development causes teams to usually compromise on the quality because of one big fat release and fixed deadline usually. Agile methodology in software testing, promotes incremental and iterative development that requires a left shift in testing strategy to help teams deliver quality products to the customers.This blog aims at explaining:
- What is Agile Testing Methodology or agile method in software testing?
- Role on Agile Testers in the projects
- What does a Tester do in the agile model in software testing?
- Examples of Agile Testing Methods
- How to strategise agile testing?
- Examples of Agile Testing Strategies
- Managing the agile testing flow
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Agile methodology in software testing
What is an Agile Testing Methodology?
Agile testing methodology is the flow of testing which promotes agile principles in software development. Agile promotes software being developed in small chunks continuously in iterations. Agile method in software testing aligns with the iterative approach by integrating testing through the entire development lifecycle instead of just keeping it as a separate phase before the release.
Unlike traditional waterfall development, where testing typically occurs after the completion of coding, Agile testing begins as soon as there is a working piece of software, even if it’s just a small feature. This allows for early validation of features and ensures that defects are identified and addressed adequately.
Agile methodology in software testing is not just about finding defects, it’s about ensuring that the software meets business objectives, delivers value to the customer, and maintains a high level of quality throughout. By understanding Agile testing principles and practices, development teams can accelerate delivery, reduce risk, and ultimately build high quality software. Below are some of the characteristics of agile testing methods:
- Test small chunks continuously rather than testing everything at once
- Early validation with iterative testing
- Enhances collaboration with the development team
- Frequent regression testing with increments being integrated
- Promotes seeking customer feedback after every iteration
What does an agile tester do?
Agile focusses on One team mindset. That is, it strongly promotes individuals to have T shaped skillset. It strongly encourages testing as an activity rather than a role. Development team members being cross functional, ensures we have all the skillset needed to convert a requirement into a working software. Testers are also part of the development team. They now play a wider role than just concentrating on testing activities alone. While the entire team takes equal responsibility in assuring quality, here are a few things which a tester does in an agile model in software testing:
- Collaborate with all the team members that is PO, SM and development team to understand the requirements in detail
- Take part in solutioning and approach discussion to arrest any buggy solution
- Actively contribute in all the sprint ceremonies
- Test early and often by introducing testing methods like TDD, BDD to ensure development is done with quality
- Respond to changes in requirements by collaborating with the product team
- Recommend changes in the process to arrest bugs early in the development
- Track and monitor issues or bug reports to understand the gaps in the team
- Automate the testing process to ensure continuous delivery is done
- Ensure the end product meets the customer requirements
- Build testing proficiency in scripting, automating and other pipeline concepts
- Help developers in unit testing and peer reviews
Agile Testing Methods with 5 Examples
Agile testing methodology has evolved over the years significantly and there are several frameworks teams use in their environment to achieve quality. While different frameworks can be used based on the nature of the project, team maturity, automation expertise, all the frameworks promote teams with agile testing principles. Let’s understand the top 5 methods popularly used in agile software development testing:
- Test-Driven Development (TDD) – It is a software development approach that emphasizes writing tests before writing the actual code. It follows a cycle of writing a failing test, writing the minimum amount of code necessary to pass the test, and then refactoring the code to improve its design while ensuring that all tests still pass.
- Behavior Driven Development (BDD) – Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is a software development methodology that focuses on defining and verifying the behavior of a system from the perspective of its stakeholders. At its core, BDD involves writing executable specifications called “scenarios” or “user stories” that describe the expected behavior of a feature or component in a language that is understandable by both technical and non-technical stakeholders. These scenarios are typically written using a structured format known as Given-When-Then (GWT) format
- Exploratory Testing – Exploratory testing is an approach to agile software development testing where testers design and execute tests in parallel, exploring the application without predefined test cases or scripts. Testers rely on their domain knowledge, intuition, and creativity to find defects, observe system behavior, and evaluate user experience.
- Session-Based Testing (SBT) – It’s a method of exploratory testing that structures exploratory testing into manageable time-boxed sessions. In SBT, testers conduct testing sessions typically ranging from 60 to 120 minutes, focusing on specific test objectives or areas of the application.
- Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) – It’s a practice within Agile software development that involves collaboratively defining acceptance criteria for user stories or features before implementation. ATDD encourages collaboration between developers, testers, and business stakeholders to ensure a shared understanding of requirements and expectations. Once acceptance criteria are defined, automated acceptance tests are created to verify that the software meets these criteria
Agile Testing Strategies
Conventional software testing comes with a test plan which mostly is a rigid document which talks about scope of testing, timeline etc. However, in an agile model in testing, we must be able to respond to change. This requires a shift of looking at testing from following a rigid plan to having a broad level strategy in place. This helps teams to go by the strategy while practices can be modified later. Here is how a strategy can be looked at from a project phase stand point:
- Project Initiation/Pre Game
During the initial stage / initiation phase or iteration 0, teams perform initial setup tasks. It includes identifying resources for testing, finalizing and setting up testing tools, etc. Below are a few points to consider in this phase:
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- Establishing a business case for the project
- Establish the boundary conditions and the project scope
- Outline the key requirements and use cases that will drive the design trade-offs
- Outline one or more candidate architectures
- Identifying the risk
- Cost estimation and prepare a preliminary project
- Execution/Game
This is the second phase of a project, where most of the work is done. These are the iterations where the software is being developed through incremental approach. Here are a few points to consider:
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- Validating the user story by predefined test cases
- Verification of acceptance criteria by the product team
- Compliance and NFR validation by the testing team
- Automation of functional scripts
- Development team writing unit testing
- Integration testing
- Security and compliance testing
- Load and performance testing
- Stress testing
- Closure / Post Game
This phase of the project where the entire system is integrated and is ready to be migrated to the production system. Here are a few pointers to consider of how testing team can contribute in strategising:
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- Testing the system in staging/pre prod systems
- Testing the systems after performance refactoring
- Help create build releases
- Finalization of system and user manual
- Helping training end users
- Setting up backup and recovery systems with the architects
How to Manage Agile Testing?
Agile testing is not just a set of techniques and practices, rather a mindset very well bound by agile principles. By integrating testing activities seamlessly into Agile frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, or Extreme Programming, teams can ensure that quality is not a by-product but a way of working from the very beginning. Here is how you can manage agile software development testing:
- Bring in testing in your framework – Ensure testers are contributing and collaborating with product owners, scrum masters in all the ceremonies of the sprint
- Promote testing within the sprints – Encourage testers to collaborate with POs to write well defined testable acceptance criteria. Bring in estimates including testing activities.
- Introduce continuous testing – Involve your testers in the planning and designing phase to arrest any bugs early. Start testing small chunks as and when a small work item is finished
- Automate the process – Develop automated test suites to reduce overheads in testing. Have automated CI/CD developed to ensure quality checks
- Make use of Agile testing tools – Bring in efficiency in your test management using tools like , Jira, Azure Devops, Zephyr. Manage your automation suites with tools like Selenium, appium etc.
- Prioritise testing activities – Use gantt charts to understand the priority of user stories to concentrate on high priority testing. Use 80:20 models to help testing teams prioritise.
- Bring in collaboration – Introduce practices like pair programming, mob programming etc to ensure quality is at its highest
- Continuously improve – Fix testing process gaps, ensure testing team’s voices are heard
Agile Testing vs. Waterfall Testing Approach
Let’s understand the differences between both the testing approaches.
| Trait | Waterfall Testing | Agile Testing |
| Approach | Testing happens once the development phase is complete | Continuous testing with the development in every iteration/increment |
| Flexibility | Generally go with a rigid test plan based on what was agreed | Testing is highly flexible with changing priorities of the sprint and customer |
| Blast Radius | Big fat release to test. May induce a lot of issues in the product | Smaller chunks of work, easy to manage and fix bugs |
| Collaboration | Testers work separately from the developers | Testers work with the developers and other roles of the team |
| Bug identification and fixing | Defects are identified after all the development is complete | Defects can be identified/arrested in all the phases of the lifecycle |
| Automation scope | Mostly manual work and heavy documentation | High automation to support continuous delivery with minimum documentation |
| Mindset | Testing is treated as a separate activity against the testers | Testing is the responsibility of the entire team |
How Agile Methodology Impacts Testing?
Agile ways of working require a shift in thought process as to how testing is approached. With iterative and incremental delivery which is continuous, testing in agile development needs continuous testing and a lot more collaboration and involvement from the testers. Below are a few pointers on how agile methodology impacts testing:
- Testing is not a standalone phase but is integrated in all the phases of the project
- Testers are involved right from the start against setting up a testing team after the development
- Bug identification and cost to fix them becomes less as it is done early in the development phase
- Testers need to contribute more and collaborate more with the product owners, Scrum masters and the development team to share their opinions and suggest quality improvements
- Testing is done on a small piece of work rather than waiting for the entire system to be tested
- Automation is of high importance to keep up with the rapid pace of iterations
- Test plans and strategies are light weight and keeps evolving
- Prioritisation based testing ensures high value items are given more importance and taken up first
Advantages & Disadvantages of Agile Testing
Agile methodology in software testing brings in a lot to the table. While teams reap the benefits of agile testing methodology, it also comes with a few challenges which a team could potentially face, let’s understand them in detail:
- Advantages
- Agile model in software testing helps get new features to users quickly because of incremental testing
- It ensures fewer bugs and a more stable product with early detection of bugs
- Agile method in software testing emphasis on less documentation reducing efforts
- Agile model in testing encourages learning and refining processes over time for even better results.
- Within sprint testing and automation, an agile model in testing allows teams to respond to changes easily.
- Reduces manual effort and cost with focus on automation
- Disadvantages
- Testing needs to keep up with the rapid pace of development iterations, often leading to pressure to complete testing within tight deadlines.
- Agile projects frequently encounter evolving requirements, making it challenging to define and execute test cases effectively
- Limited availability of skilled testers, testing tools, and testing environments can hinder the efficiency and effectiveness of testing efforts.
- Coordinating testing across multiple teams, components, and third-party systems can be complex, leading to integration challenges and delays.
- Ensuring comprehensive test coverage across all features and functionalities within short iterations can be difficult,
- While test automation is essential for Agile model in software testing to achieve speed and efficiency, it also presents challenges such as maintenance overhead
How Consulting companies will help an organisation in Agile testing?
Agile Consulting firms bring in a lot of expertise, outside in perspective, unbiased objective recommendations. They also bring subject matter experts and recommend resources and tools, process suggestions to help teams and organizations speed their journey towards achieving higher quality software and testing efficiency. Let’s see how consulting companies add value:
- Consultants can help organizations in developing testing strategies and plans customised and tailored to their specific needs
- They help streamline their processes by recommending improvements, optimizing workflows, and implementing industry standard best practices
- Can help companies in choosing the right tools, and technologies to support their practices
- Consulting firms often have expertise in test automation and can help companies automate their testing efforts to improve efficiency, increase test coverage, and accelerate release cycles
- Offer wide variety of services like performance, security and accessibility testing
- Help in setting up COEs and governance for testing practices
- Provide customised training programs and workshops to bring in awareness and upskill their testing capabilities
Conclusion
Agile testing methods promote collaboration, adaptability and continuous improvement. While it is not a set of practices and techniques, it is a mindset shift which is well bound by agile principles. By integrating testing activities seamlessly into Agile frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, or Extreme Programming, teams can ensure that quality is not a by-product but a way of working from the very beginning.
What becomes vital is to strategise the testing based on your project needs and modifying the testing practices based on the agile framework you use. All the above mentioned testing methods support agility in the teams, but not all the methods suit all the projects. While there are several testing frameworks out there there is no single source of truth as to which is the best fit method. Continuous testing and improvement of the process needs to be digested clearly.
As organizations adapt to Agile ways of working, they can reap the full potential of Agile testing to speed up delivery, mitigate risks, and deliver higher value to the customers. We at Benzne agile transformation service, would be glad to support your transition to agile testing methodologies, please feel free to schedule a discovery call with our team of consultants to explore how we can help.
With this our blog on “Agile Testing Methodology: A complete guide” comes to an end and we hope this has helped you understand the concepts of Agile testing methodology and gave a direction. Please write to consult@benzne.com for any feedback or suggestions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Agile Testing Methodology
1. What is the scrum methodology of agile testing?
Scrum methodology of testing refers to how testing is done within the framework. Scrum promotes iterative and incremental development, effective contribution and collaboration and adaptability. With testing happening continuously along with the development of smaller pieces of work and getting feedback every end of the iteration.
2. How to use Jira for Agile testing?
Jira is a very sophisticated tool for bug tracking, test management and executing sprints. Jira can be used in testing for,
- Test management – Creating and managing test cases, creating and managing test cycles
- Bug Tracking – Create, monitor and manage bugs with stories and epics
- Automation – Create automated tests with tools like zephyr etc and segregation of test cases based on different suites
3. Who is responsible for testing in Agile?
Unlike the traditional or conventional approach of software development where testers are solely responsible for quality, agile testing is an activity where the entire team is responsible. Tester’s role in agile method in software testing is not only restricted to testing the work but to overall bring in a quality first mindset by implementing a wide variety of practices.
4. How many stages are there in agile testing?
Testing in Agile model in software testing can span across all phases of the project.
- Project Initiation / Pre Game: During the initial stage / initiation phase or iteration 0, teams perform initial setup tasks. It includes identifying resources for testing, finalizing and setting up testing tools, etc.
- Execution / Game: This is the second phase of a project, where most of the work is done. These are the iterations where the software is being developed through incremental approach.
- Closure / Post Game: This phase of the project where the entire system is integrated and is ready to be migrated to the production system.
5. What are the advantages of agile testing?
- Agile method in software testing helps get new features to users quickly because of incremental testing
- It ensures fewer bugs and a more stable product with early detection of bugs
- Agile model in testing emphasis on less documentation reducing efforts
- Agile model software testing encourages learning and refining processes over time for even better results.
- Within sprint testing and automation agile testing allows teams to respond to changes easily.
- Reduces manual effort and cost with focus on automation
