Automation Testing in Agile Methodology
Agile methodology has been a dominating phrase in the software industry recently. Many product teams have transitioned from Waterfall to Agile to promote continuous iterations in the software development life cycle. Keeping up with this phase Prevaj has joined this bandwagon and successfully transitioned to this phase.
In Agile methodology, development and testing processes go hand in hand, presenting the critical need for a collaborative team.
Agile projects require agile testing, which follows all principles of the practice. Adopting this approach, our QA teams start testing at early stages and continuously run tests for the entire process instead of waiting for the final build.
As with its proactive nature, Agile enables QA teams to access all basic units and levels of the product to validate its functionality, performance, and appearance. It allows the completion of an Agile SDLC, ensures all client’s requirements are developed correctly, and shortens the time to market, all in a lean way.
Challenges posed for Agile methodology in software testing
Agile methodology is the fastest approach to turning an idea into reality, especially for dynamic projects that are constantly changing. Nevertheless, the transformation into Agile is challenging. Its biggest advantage—the capability of continuous iteration—is the root of many major obstacles:
1. Ever-changing code due to frequent builds and deployments-
Challenge: Agile methodology’s nature is meant to adapt to continuous changes. For every single update, the application’s code-base and GUI layers must be updated to ensure that they function correctly upon new changes.
Solution: Prevaj has set a system to meet these requirements where every developer is equipped with the required support and knowledge to anticipate and meet the agile standard requirements accordingly.
2. Extensive test coverage is needed under time constraints-
Challenge: Agile projects are often broken down into small sprints for the team to complete their work within one to two weeks. In such a short period, the QA team has an intensive regime to ensure the quality of new builds and the functionality of all previous features.
Solution: To ensure that all the quality standards are met we conduct parallel testing. With automation in place, QA teams can execute several tests on different devices, browsers, and operating systems simultaneously. This saves a huge amount of time for the team, especially in the later sprints of the project. Team productivity and test quality are then enhanced in a broad perspective.
3. Pressure on software performance
Challenge: With every build, the product comes with more features and improvements, which result in a high volume of added code. The application’s structure becomes more complicated while increasing pressure on its performance. It quickly forms bottlenecks in the development process if the QA teams cannot execute all performance tests promptly.
Solution: To tackle this we took advantage of test automation in QA teams who have the capability to execute tests across browsers and platforms. Thus, the team can cover all possible testing aspects of their project with the right automation tool according to new changes to avoid any bottlenecks in the process.