In Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), the testing phase is crucial to make your software error-free and improve its functionality. When you develop software, fixing an issue later in the development cycle can cost you more as the price of effort, time, and money resources are significantly higher.
Consequently, a customer-focused software development service incorporates testing as the necessary step before deploying any new feature and making it ready for end-user usage. The agile method offers many benefits in software testing, such as obtaining fast, efficient, and accurate results.
Businesses aim to develop better quality products and deliver services faster. This requires a data-driven, iterative agile testing methodology because it detects and quickly fixes issues. At the same time, the efficiency and accuracy of this testing method are high due to advanced automation tools.
What is Agile Testing in Software Development?
Agile testing is a software testing approach based on agile software development principles, i.e., iterative development methodology. It enables the QA team to quickly and easily test the software and deliver value to the customers with secure and high-performing software.
In Agile testing, all team members, including project managers, software testers, developers, and experts, have their role in ensuring the software functions as intended. This testing method occurs within the development cycle, providing all the bugs and function errors are identified and resolved early in the development cycle.
This iterative and incremental method can be divided into the following steps:
1. Requirement Analysis
The initial phase of agile testing includes gathering stakeholders’ input and evaluating the testing project requirements. In this phase, testers get familiarized with the required specification and address if something is amiss in those specifications.
2. Test Planning
Next step is to carry out the proper testing plan based on the requirement gathered in the first phase. Planning a strategic testing model requires considering every project detail, including budget, effort, human resources needed, and expected time frame.
3. Test Case Development
This stage is the basic building block of the testing process, which includes defining a set of actions to perform in Agile testing. It helps to identify the error and evaluate the software functions accurately.
4. Release Readiness
In this phase, the software is tested in artificially built-in conditions using automation tools where it will ideally be used. This testing phase is necessary to check the readiness of the software before release.
5. Test Execution
In this stage, the testing team executes the planned test cases to identify bugs & errors and reports them to the development team.
6. Test Cycle Closure
The final stage of agile software testing methodology involves an agility review meeting, where the project stakeholders meet to evaluate project progress against the set goals and timelines.
Agile Testing Elevating Software Performance
Properly implementing agile testing by software testing service providers is vital to ensure effective error-free software. For instance, appropriate hierarchy and roles should be divided among the team involved in the testing process to avoid confusion and conflict.
There are many challenges that a testing team might face during testing, such as higher testing time and inaccurate test results. However, you can test the software and improve its performance with agile testing.
In Agile testing, testers can identify and fix errors early in the lifecycle. This improves the timely delivery of software, increasing customer satisfaction and retention rate. Therefore, as the future is shifting toward the Agile software testing model, it is high time companies providing software testing services embrace it.
Agile vs. Waterfall Testing Model
Unlike the waterfall testing method, which is sequential, Agile testing is continuous and more flexible. Therefore, it is suitable for software with frequent addition and variation in the project scope.
Since Agile testing can be performed at any stage of the development cycle, you can get continuous feedback from the first phase. Hence, it is beneficial in making software more client-associated.
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How is Agile Testing Used in Software Development?
Various methodologies have been developed for software testing. It includes Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD), Exploratory Testing, and Session-Based Testing. Companies providing software quality assurance testing services can leverage many benefits from Agile testing, such as goal-oriented work, focus on functionality, using professional automation tools, and more.
Businesses can leverage many benefits from Agile testing in software development.
1. Fixed Project Delivery Timeline
Since the testing requirements are all defined previously in Agile testing methodology, the project delivery timeline is fixed. The more defects are identified and resolved early in the development cycle, and the team can focus on building new features and keep up with the pace of the development time frame.
2. Flexible Testing Model
For any business, acknowledging customers’ needs and preferences is vital to ensure the software accurately fulfills them. Therefore, the QA team is encouraged to embrace the flexibility of this model and be able to adapt to change accordingly.
3. Transparency in Software Development and Testing
In the Agile testing method, it is required to have collaboration between team members. Every project stakeholder has defined tasks, including reviewing, validating, etc. With the proper involvement of every team member throughout the sprint planning, development, and meetings, developers can ensure software meets the customer’s needs.
4. Achieve Higher Quality Software
Since the software is developed in a small subset of features, the development and QA team can perfect them before releasing them in the market. Moreover, with CI/CD, testers can test and address them immediately.
5. User-Focused Testing
In Agile methodologies, you get to work closely with the project team. Therefore, you have a clear understanding of customers’ demands and requirements. The testing is performed at every stage of the development process, improving the quality of your software before launch.
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Achieve High Customer Satisfaction With Agile Testing in Software Development
The iterative testing method in Agile can help you achieve high-quality software that functions as expected. Moreover, you can quickly get feedback from the stakeholders and implement them between the development phases, improving the software performance further. Hence, it fulfills the ultimate goal of agile software development with more customer satisfaction.
Not only is Agile testing beneficial in delivering high-quality software faster, but it also improves the overall project development cycle. Moreover, you can better control your project development with daily scrum meetings, defined product scope, fixed timeline, and cost.
