Agile development is a very common software testing approach in the current scenarios. Many software developers and testers choose agile methodology because many teams struggle to achieve even modest levels of automation testing. The essence of agile development methodology is more frequent software releases and increased team collaboration. But this often results in too many iterations, ambiguous project scope, and little or no documentation.
There are various testing tips and practices that should be followed by the QA team for automation testing in agile development. In this article, first, you will see what automation testing and agile development are. Then, you will see the tips that should be followed for successfully implementing automation testing in agile development.
What is Automation Testing?
Test automation is a software testing process to ensure the working of software’s features, functionality, user experience, reliability, etc. Various types of professionals are involved in performing a software testing process. Stakeholders are a very important part of the test automation process. Also, it is necessary and advisable that all the test automation is accessible and usable by all the stakeholders. The various stakeholders included in the test automation are developers, testers, test managers, clients, etc.
Automation testing on the cloud is defined as executing software tests using cloud-based tools and platforms. You can run automated parallel testing on the cloud to find and fix any errors or bugs in your software application. This saves time and increases the efficiency of the testing process. For instance, manual regression tests, which verify that nothing breaks whenever a developer submits a pull request, can require huge teams to put in dozens of hours of laborious effort. In such cases, cloud testing platforms like LambdaTest can be used.
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform to run manual and automated tests at scale. The platform allows you to perform real-time and automation testing across 3000+ environments and real device cloud.
Its cloud-based infrastructure allows for parallel execution of mobile app tests, facilitating faster feedback loops and accelerating the testing process. Additionally, the platform ensures cross-browser compatibility by providing a wide array of browsers and operating systems for testing. This is particularly beneficial for mobile web applications, ensuring consistent performance and appearance across various browsers on mobile devices.
LambdaTest offers a vast selection of real mobile devices for real-time testing, allowing users to interact with mobile applications on genuine devices rather than relying solely on emulators. This ensures accurate simulation of user experiences across various devices, screen sizes, and operating systems. Testers can access a diverse device lab, including the latest smartphones and tablets, to validate the mobile app’s responsiveness and usability.
What is Agile Development?
Agile software development is a software application development methodology that benefits software developers and testers in various ways. It provides flexibility, scalability, stakeholder collaboration, user satisfaction, and many other benefits. Agile software development methodology is based on the Agile Manifesto. Some rules and principles help prioritize individuals and interactions according to the changes.
Agile has advantages in that it can support teams in a changing environment while keeping the effective delivery of business value front and center. Agile fosters a collaborative culture that increases organizational efficiency as teams cooperate and comprehend their distinct roles. Finally, because testing is done continuously throughout development, businesses employing Agile software development can rest easy knowing they deliver a high-quality product. This allows you to adjust and notify teams of any possible problems. The agile software development process can be divided into six steps. These are as follows:
- Customer Requirement: The first step includes gathering the customer’s requirements and needs and prioritizing them.
- Planning: The second step in this methodology is planning the software delivery. It consists of various features and functionalities in the software application.
- Development: In this stage of development, the team builds the software using various tools, frameworks, rapid iterations, etc.
- Testing: It is a very crucial software development stage. In this stage, the testing team ensures that the software is working efficiently and will meet the customer’s requirements.
- Deployment: After testing the software, it’s time for the deployment. The software application is being deployed into use.
- Maintenance: There is also a need for software maintenance, which ensures that the software works fine and that no bugs or errors appear.
Importance of Automation Testing in Agile Development
Let us see the various benefits of using automation testing in agile methodology.
- Parallel automation testing can be used in the agile development approach as it reduces the liability of rewriting the tests. The testing team and developers can use the same scripts for different devices.
- When the testing process is completed in agile development, the reliability factor of automation testing gets scaled up.
- You can execute the agile software development method faster by using the strategic application of test automation and implementing it with proper planning.
- Implementing test automation in agile methodology may be higher initially, but the overall ROI is higher when implementing automation testing in agile development.
- The reusability of test cases increases when automation testing is used in the agile development process.
- Test automation is an innovative way of executing agile methodologies cost-effectively and efficiently. All these benefits help to improve the overall software testing activities by enabling a high-quality software application with faster releases in less time.
Tips for Successful Automation Testing in Agile Development
Now, let us see what tricks and ideas can be used to implement automation testing in the agile methodology for better and more successful results.
- Parallel Automating Tests
Parallel testing is a software testing process that allows the QA team to test their software application simultaneously against many types of devices, browsers, operating systems, etc. The ultimate goal of parallel testing is to reduce testing time and resource constraints. Parallel testing is definitely to do so. It allows the developers to share the test results with all the stakeholders. Using parallel testing also helps to boost CI (Continuous Integration) efforts. This effort saves time, and the team can deliver the software quickly.
The testing coverage increases when you perform software automation testing using parallel or distributed testing on more and more devices. This ensures that the software experience increases and the end user gets the best experience while using the application. Test coverage is defined as the various configurations, types of devices, and browser-OS combinations for which you can perform your software testing application. When you use parallel or distributed testing, you just need to write the test scenarios once. Then, these test scenarios get replicated in another version and on other devices.
- Following the Test Pyramid Approach
The Test pyramid approach is a software test automation concept used to make successful automation testing in agile development. This approach is a widely used model and is very popular among software developers due to its excellent results. The objective of the test pyramid approach is to guide the distribution of test automation for different levels of testing scope, testing speed, and granularity. There are three layers in the test pyramid approach. These levels are named Unit tests, Integration tests, and End-to-end tests. These three levels are defined so that the test automation efficiency and ease of testing can be maximized.
These test layers are followed in a way that more unit tests than integration tests, and more integration tests than end-to-end tests. Following such an approach in the test pyramid concept helps the developer maintain the software application with less money, covering a higher testing range, and has many other advantages. Alternatively, all these help to improve your test reporting and documentation, as you can focus on the most relevant and reliable information for each layer. All these reasons show that the test pyramid approach can be taken into account for successful automation testing in agile development.
- Using Appropriate Automation Tools
Choosing the appropriate automation tools is very important to make your automation testing process successful in agile development. Numerous open-source and paid automated testing technologies are available. When selecting a tool, consider the application’s technological stack, the team’s experience, and your budget. Selenium, Appium, and TestComplete are a few well-liked automation testing solutions. Selecting the appropriate automation tools demands careful thought to successfully implement automation testing in agile development. These factors are as follows:
- Technological Stack: The technological stack of your application has a big impact on the tools you choose. While some automation systems are better suited for desktop software or mobile apps, others specialize in web applications. There can be no compromise on compatibility with your tech stack.
- Team Expertise: Consider the knowledge and experience of your testing team. It might go more smoothly if they are familiar with a particular automation tool.
- Budget: Many automation technologies range from open-source solutions like Selenium to for-profit solutions like TestComplete. Remember that purchasing a dependable instrument can frequently result in long-term cost savings.
- Test Review and Reporting
Monitoring and reporting test results are very important steps that help implement automation testing in agile development. The reports include various things such as the test data, the feedback of tests that you collect from the automated testing, etc. Many tools can be used to monitor and report your automation results. These tools are dashboards, logs, and alerts that can be used to track the test results and visualize how the automation test is performing. The various parameters that help to understand the automation testing performance are test coverage, failures, defects, etc.
All these parameters should be considered to successfully implement automation testing in agile development methodology. Some tools can be used to manage and report the automation results of quality assurance, such as reports, charts, graphs, etc., that help communicate all the stakeholders with your automation test results. The stakeholders, such as developers, managers, clients, etc, can communicate and provide their valuable insights to perform the automation testing efficiently and help manage risks when automating quality assurance.
Conclusion
Agile software development is a software application development methodology that benefits software developers and testers in various ways. It provides flexibility, scalability, collaboration with stakeholders, and user satisfaction. Various practices, such as using appropriate tools, the test pyramid approach, and many others, help implement automation testing in agile development. Hope you got a better understanding of these practices after reading this blog. Happy learning!
