Agile Testing: Best Practices and Methodology

Have you ever encountered a situation as a developer or a coder wondering how this code script got the approval to be released?

Or maybe you were one of the testers who received a code right before its deployment and insisted that the code was not ready, yet your marketing team pushed it on release.

Most companies follow a culture like this where they prioritize deadlines above quality and end up delivering codes full of bugs. Keeping the testing department aloof from the development process gives way to such chaos within the testing and development teams. Needless to say, marketing and sales teams play a major role in pressuring companies into releasing codes without proper testing. This article will discuss the best practices and methodologies of Agile testing.

Agile methodologies come to the rescue here! Agile can help bridge the gap between increasing business expectations and unsatisfactory IT delivery. Though more than 70% of businesses today still follow the waterfall model of software development and testing, Agile testing companies are taking center stage by offering dynamic software testing services to offer efficiency and increased speed to delivery for businesses.

Defining Agile

Looking at the definition of agile, oxford says “Agile is used to describe a way of managing projects in which work is divided into a series of short tasks, with regular breaks to review the work and adapt the plans.”

Agile is a better way of developing software. In the field of testing, agile is a kind of software testing process that follows the path laid down by agile software development. Here the development is aligned with the customer’s and testing team’s requirements.

Through agile development, testing companies today have started to give value to:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change by following a plan

In other words, agile testing focuses on delivering a continuous stream of business value, even if your systems or processes are constantly changing.

How is Agile Different from the Traditional Waterfall Approach?

The waterfall approach in software development is a sequential process in which development is done in a steady flow of steps starting from requirement analysis and going all the way to maintenance.

In this process of development, software testing is yet another phase that’s touched only until the end of the development cycle.

Here are some of the qualities of the traditional waterfall method:

• First code, then test.
• Development and testing teams were considered separate from each other, each working in their own silo.
• Each part of the process is heavy and requires tons of documents.
• Testing becomes a bottleneck in the very end, thus making it virtually impossible to maintain a schedule.
• Automation tools come into the picture after the coding process is completed.

The waterfall approach mostly lacks effective team engagement and suffers from disrupted communication between developers.

The latest agile methodology delivers solutions to the most common loopholes in the waterfall model.

• Brings together coding and testing
• Effective feedback and collaboration come into the picture
• The added process of exploratory testing suggests loopholes in the code before time
• Gives rise to better ideas and mind-mapping
• All teams integrate into one structured operational system

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Agile Testing Methodologies

Now let’s have a closer look at the most common agile testing methodologies. Four basic agile methods are being used by developers and treasurers today:

• Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
• Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)
• Exploratory Testing
• Session-Based Testing

1. Behavior Driven Development (BDD)

Behaviour-driven development or BDD is very similar to the test-driven development approach or TDD.

It encourages communication between the stakeholders involved in a project so that every other member understands all the features of the system before the beginning of the development process. In BDD, testers, developers, and analysts create scenarios that promote focused communication in detail.

The main idea of BDD is that a specific team creates relevant scenarios and then builds a test series around those scenarios that are predicted to fail. Next, these testers build software functionality and program them to pass in the same scenarios.

The basic difference that comes from traditional Test-Driven Development (TDD) is that there, complete software functionality is tested, not just individual components of a software code.

Best Practices Build Automated Tests for Reusability:

Best practices for testers following a BDD methodology include:

• Streamline the Documentation Process: Ensure that your development scripts contain clear, concise, and up-to-date codes to keep the development and testing processes lean.
• The Three Amigos Model: Embrace the famous “three amigos” model where the product owner, developer, and tester come together to discuss possible issues. It is important to foster an environment where open communication is encouraged for effective results.
• Use Frameworks like Cucumber for User Acceptance: Acceptance criteria are the requirements a software product must meet to be approved by a user, customer, or other stakeholder. These criteria are most effectively written using Cucumber and Gherkin syntax.
• Automation has changed the face of development and testing. It is always useful and time-effective to automate repetitive tests or tasks to accelerate the testing process.
• Encourage the usage of Gherkin Syntax: Encourage business analysts to become familiar with Gherkin syntax so they can write and refine test cases themselves, improving the accuracy and relevance of acceptance criteria.

2. Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)

Acceptance Test-Driven Development or ATDD involves three players, customers, developers, and testers. All these three players come together in meetings to gather inputs from their roles and use them to define acceptance tests. The customer focuses on the problem, the developer pays attention to proposing a possible solution to the problem and testing analysis on possible situations where things could go wrong.

It represents a user’s perspective and the possible ways in which the system can function. It also ensures that the system functions as planned. These tests are mostly automated, and their script is closely similar to the BDD approach.

Best practices

Best practices for testers following an ATDD Agile methodology include:

• Collaboration with Users: It is helpful for product developers and other business stakeholders to interact closely with customers to determine user expectations. Some ways in which this can be done are through focus groups and surveys.
• Redirect Focus on Front-line Teams: Focus more on team members standing on the front line with the customers, such as sales representatives, customer service agents, and account managers to understand customer expectations better.
• Prioritize Strategizing on Two Questions:

1. Will your customer use the system if it does X?
2. How can we as a service provider validate if the system does X?

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Testing in Agile with Behavior Driven Development

3. Exploratory Testing

The test execution and test design phase go hand in hand with exploratory testing. It’s a type of functional testing service that focuses on interacting with the software rather than separately planning, building, and running test cases. It allows testers to play with their code differently. Firstly, it’s not scripted, which means testers can mimic possible user behaviors and get creative in finding all possible ways that break software. They do not document the process but pay more attention to identifying the defects. Because of its unscripted approach, exploratory testing often helps in identifying ways in which users can interact with the software in real life.

Exploratory testing follows four key principles:

1. Parallel test planning, test design, and test execution
2. Specific yet flexible
3. Aligned toward the investigation of potential opportunities
4. Knowledge sharing

Best Practices

Best practices for testers using exploratory testing include:

• Organize Functionality with Mind Maps and Spreadsheets: Use mind maps to visually organize and structure the application’s functionality. Create spreadsheets to catalog the application’s functionalities, features, and workflows. This structured format can help in tracking different components and ensuring comprehensive test coverage
• Focus on High-Risk Areas: Prioritize areas of the application that are more critical or prone to issues. This includes high-traffic areas, complex workflows, or recent changes.
• Test Documentation: Keep track of your historical test scripts and results to avoid repeating mistakes. This also proves time effective as it prevents duplication of efforts and re-scripting for the same test scenarios.
• Document Results for Accountability: Use tools like qTest Explorer or similar test management systems to document your test results. These tools provide a structured approach to recording test outcomes, making it easier to analyze results and track test progress.

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7 Best Practices of Exploratory Testing

4. Session-Based Testing

Session-based testing is very similar to exploratory testing but more organized. Its goal is to ensure that the software is tested comprehensively. It adds charters that help testers identify what to test and in which sequence. Secondly, it adds test reports which give testers the option to document all their discoveries throughout the testing process. These tests are conducted in time-boxed sessions which end with a face-to-face brief between testers and developers, scrum masters or managers, covering the following points:

1. What was done? (Past)
2. What was discovered or achieved? (Results)
3. What issues did they face? (Obstacles)
4. What is left? (Outlook)
5. What did they feel about the areas they tested? (Review & Analysis)

Best practices

Best practices for testers using session-based testing include:

• Create Clear Objectives and Strategies: Outline clear directions or missions for testers to be on track. Mind maps or detailed guides for what to test, how to test, and when to test. This will allow testing teams to be precise with their end objectives.
• Develop a Detailed Charter that Indicates the Mission: This charter should contain a comprehensive end-to-end plan for the entire testing process. It must comprise the expected duration of the entire process; the standards against which the results will be measured; the tentative tool/stack to be utilized, etc.
• Run the Testing Session Without Any Interruptions: Human error can prove fatal to the entire testing process. Ensure that testers have a distraction-free environment and a detailed knowledge of what to test and which objectives to achieve.
• Documentation: Document all your activities and notes during the session in a session report maintained throughout the test
• Review Thoroughly: Hold a briefing session between the tester and the manager to review your findings from the session and discuss the strategy ahead.

Agile Testing Quadrants

With the above testing methodologies well in place, it’s difficult to assess which type of tests should be run, how often to run, when to run, and who to run it by. The famous concept of agile testing quadrants comes into the picture here, given by Gregory and Crispin, which provides a taxonomy of the tests. As per Crispin, the two left-hand quadrants can help teams know which of the given codes to write and understand when they are done writing. The two right-handed quadrants help the team know more about the code they have written by providing valuable feedback to the left-hand quadrants.

Quadrant 1:

Automated Quadrant – This quadrant has tests that are specifically designed to improve the code of the product being scripted. These tests help improve the design without affecting the functionality as a whole. The tests being covered here include unit tests, API tests, web service testing, and component tests. The main idea is to improve the quality of the product through structured source code management and a seamlessly integrated development environment. This quadrant helps teams identify possible pain points and eases out the processes for the future. Some of the basic tools used here include TeamCity, xUnit, Eclipse, IntelliJ Idea, etc.

Quadrant 2:

Automated and manual Quadrant – This quadrant contains tests such as functional tests, story tests, prototypes, and simulations that are designed to improve business outcomes. They help create products that drive value for the business and customers by formulating the right set of questions and ultimately derive tests that are aligned with the business. It involves a lot of brainstorming and planning. To support this, tools like MindMap may be used along with Visio for a straight flow of diagrams. Behavior-driven tools such as Cucumber and easyB can be easily used to ease functionality.

Quadrant 3:

Manual Quadrant – This quadrant is associated with manual testing and contains tests to provide feedback for the tests that are conducted in Q1 and Q2. It tests the product and user experience by evaluating the product and its use by opting for options like demos, feedback, checking user experience, etc. The tests most commonly used here include Exploratory Testing, Scenario-based Testing, Usability Testing, User Acceptance Testing, and Alpha/Beta testing. It involves intuition and critical thinking along with a strategic usage of simulators and emulators.

Quadrant 4:

Tools Quadrant – This quadrant is associated with automation tools and contains tests that use technology to ensure the code fulfills every non-functional requirement such as security and compatibility. The tests used in this process include Performance & Load Testing and Security Testing. Majorly the tests performed in this quadrant are done on a priority basis which means they may begin early in the SDLC process or be introduced later in testing as and when required. Major tools used in this process include jConsole, jProfiler, Loadrunner, jMeter, jUnitPerf, etc.

Make Agile Testing Work for Your Enterprise

With agile testing, development can be more controlled that can result in reduced bugs in code and fewer chances or your application crashing down. Repetitive testing ensures all the components of your software system are working correctly at every single step. Agile testing is a necessary step towards achieving high test coverage and better code quality along with delivering value to your customers.

We at ImpactQA follow the best agile testing practices in our end-to-end testing procedures. Our best-in-industry testing approach helps our clients seamlessly integrate both their agile and hybrid development processes to deliver high-quality products.

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