Agile Testing Methods – Usage, Principles, & Lifecycle

Years ago, in the early ’90s, when computing saw an upward curve, software development faced some tough challenges better known as the ‘application delivery lag’ or ‘application development crisis.’ So much so that developing an application, it would take roughly around three years after placing the order. 

The trouble was businesses, and their requirements were moving faster. As a result, by the time the software application is ready, the requirements and business landscape will completely change, making the newly developed application redundant. Many development projects, therefore, had to be canceled while it was being developed, and those that finally saw the completion stage often did not meet the changed business requirement. 

This lag time was often more than the average time of three years. Aerospace and Space programs were the best examples of this. The Aerospace and defense companies had to wait not just for years but decades for a complex system to be developed. The Space Shuttle program that was finally launched in 1982 was using the technologies and information prevalent in the 1960s. 

The growing frustration due to this finally led to seventeen software thought leaders forming a team to come up with a better and simpler way of the development process. 

Finally, Agile was formally launched in 2001 when the team drafted the Agile Manifesto containing the four major principles for agile project management with the aim to guide teams in developing better software, with individuals and interactions gaining importance over processes and tools. How you can learn to use Agile methodology this Agile overview will guide you through that in case you are interested in Agile or planning to implement it in your business. 

Agile Testing - An Overview  

The word “Agile” in agile testing means work that can be performed quickly and instantly. The core-functional agile testing team uses the agile method to test software products to deliver high-quality products as the bugs get detected at the project's initial phase.

It is an iterative development methodology where coding and testing are not separate; rather, they are done interactively and simultaneously. As a result, the final product that comes out meets all the client requirement parameters. 

Compared to traditional testing procedures, agile methodology in testing can be used to test complex software bringing effective results. The project begins with boundless incorporation and collaboration between development and testing as a continuous process. 

What Is Agile Testing?  

 It is a software testing practice that includes various principles of an agile model in software testing to detect defects or issues quickly and give fast feedback for better and accelerated project development. 

Agile methodology in software testing follows certain principles to bring the desired results.

These are as follows: 

The Principles of Agile Testing Methods  

1. Ongoing Response 

Keeps delivering a response or feedback continuously without fail so that the final product meets the business needs.

2. Reduced Documentation 

Time-consuming documentation is shunned by engineers who use a reusable specification or checklist. 

3. Continuous Testing 

Testing keeps happening all the time, keeping in mind the product improvement goal. 

4. Client Satisfaction 

Clients are involved throughout the project life cycle; they can continuously suggest modifications and update requirements, and the tests can be changed as well as per that. 

5. Easy and Clean Coding 

Bugs or defects are cleaned repeatedly and consistently to get clean and easy codes. 

6. Collaboration 

Not only the testers but the business analysts and the developers also get involved in the testing process in the SDL (software development life cycle). 

7. Test‐Driven 

Testing is done alongside the development and not at a later standalone phase (after the entire product is developed), to ensure that the features required to be implemented during a given iteration are actually done.

8. Fast Feedback, Reduced Turnaround Time 

 As all the teams are continuously involved at each stage of product development of the SDL, continuous feedback and improvement keep happening simultaneously thereby reducing time spent and costs involved. 

Agile Testing Methods  

The Agile testing method is an indispensable and inseparable part of the Agile methodology running continuously alongside the development in collaboration with testers, developers, product owners, or clients. 

A few methods are discussed below: 

1. Test Driven Development (TDD) in Agile  

 As the name suggests, it starts with the tests and beings with the question of what you want to test and creating a user story. 

Write a unit test -> write the user story->write the code till the unit passes the tests. 

TDD which is used in unit and component tests can be done with automated tests and ensures the features work as they should. 

2. Behavior Driven Development (BDD)  

 This method aims to identify business needs and outputs, and the development should be consistent accordingly. The steps are: 

Describe the behavior -> write code as per the specified test case -> Continue the process until the code passes the test case. 

3. Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)  

An extremely customer-centric methodology where the main focus is to develop a program based on the user’s point of view. 

It emphasizes the client’s requirement by involving the different viewpoints of different team members from the development, and testing teams, and the client as well, in order to develop the acceptance test from the client’s perspective. 

The steps are: 

Write a user acceptance test (UAT) -> write a code until it passes the test. ATDD is usually used for acceptance tests ensuring that the product functions as per the user’s expectation. 

4. Exploratory Testing  

 This type gives the test engineers the freedom to explore the code and create the most useful software. It is especially done in the absence of any specific requirement. It helps to discover the unknown risks in the software that a simple testing approach might have overlooked. 

The engineers create multiple test cases, execute them and record the process to learn the flow and each aspect of the software functionality. 

The steps are: 

Exploring the application in various possible ways -> Learning the flow of the application ->Preparing a test document -> Testing the application 

5. Extreme Programming (XP)  

This is used in case of a constant modification in the user requirements with the goal of meeting client satisfaction and is another customer-centric methodology of testing. 

6. Session-Based Testing  

 Used to identify hidden issues or bugs in the software. The tests are done in continuous sessions, with the test engineers reporting all the tests that happened throughout the process. 

7. Dynamic Software Development Method (DSDM)  

This method used by users, development, and testing teams takes a Rapid Application Development ﴾RAD﴿ approach that gives a framework for developing and maintaining systems.

 Agile Testing Methods Benefits  

Agile testing has played a significant role in the IT sector. To enumerate its benefits : 

A) Enhanced quality and attribute – As it has its foundation in regular feedback and reviews from the end-user.

B) Saves time and money – as continuous improvement happens at each step, bugs are constantly removed, finally giving a clean product in less time and bringing more transparency.

C) Better bug management – by way of regular collaboration and input, issues get solved immediately by testing and improved software productivity.

D) Reduced documentation – more people and input involvement reduce the need for unnecessary elaborate documentation.

E) Better workload management – As the workload gets divided into small parts with development, testing, and feedback happening simultaneously, it stops the developers from going off track.

Agile Testing Strategies  

1. Iteration 

Includes initial setting up like identifying manpower, installing the testing tools, arranging the resources and more. The steps that are involved go like this: 

Creating a business case -> Establishing the conditions and the scope of the project -> outlining the key requirements and use cases -> Risk identification - > Cost estimation and preparing a preliminary project. 

2. Construction Iteration 

 A maximum of the tests are performed during this phase. Basically, two different types of tests are performed: 

a) Confirmatory Testing – ensures the product meets all the stakeholders’ requirements

b) Investigative Testing – this is deep testing to identify the issues that might have been overlooked in the confirmatory testing.

3. Release End Game 

The phase includes deploying the system successfully into production. The steps include: 

End users training -> Support ->Marketing of the released product ->Back-up and restoration ->finalization of the system and user documentation. 

4. Production 

After completion of the release stage, the product moves to the production stage. 

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The strategy of Test for Agile Testers  

Framing a well-documented test plan is not the way of Agile testing. Rather, Agile testers need to be extremely flexible, always ready to respond quickly to any change in requirements at any time. 

 An Agile tester may use various testing techniques in agile to outline an Agile test strategy as per need and convenience. For example, a tester may just outline the strategy in a document, at other times, it could be creating a text matrix or using a Kanban board. 

 Irrespective of the methodology, however, a test strategy must have the following: 

• a) Purpose (or the user story defined by the user)
• b) Objectives
• c) Scope (what needs to be tested)
• d) Methods (how the tests should run)

 Using the right testing tools is crucial in agile testing techniques. Some popular tools (FREE and Paid included) are: 

1. Jira 
2. JMeter 
3. Selenium 
4. Zephyr 
5. Pivotal Tracker 
6. Appium 
7. Cucumber 
8. Katalon TestOps 
9. QMetry 
10. qTest Scenario 
11. SoapUI 
12. Practitest 

Conclusion  

As we have seen from our detailed exploration, Agile development is an extremely team-centric process where developers, testers, and clients take part in all the project and development activities. It is teamwork that ensures the success of testing in Agile projects. 

As such, an agile tester needs to participate and contribute to all the project activities alongside harnessing the testing expertise. It will be extremely helpful if businesses consider getting their teams well-versed in Agile by attending some courses. 

Knowledgehut Agile overview could be an appropriate place to acquire the Agile understanding and skills and explore its many branches like Lean, Scrum, Kanban, and more as per the requirement. An Agile-certified professional definitely gets an extra edge in handling projects by acquiring project management skills to steer teams on the right track in minimum time.