Agile Testing https://www.testingxperts.com Wed, 18 Oct 2023 08:00:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.8 Benefits of Setting QA Process in an Agile Environment https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/qa-process-in-agile?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=benefits-of-setting-qa-process-in-an-agile-environment Tue, 27 Jun 2023 14:34:17 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=29444 qa process in agile

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, organizations increasingly adopt Agile methodologies to drive innovation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. A robust Quality Assurance (QA) process is necessary in this dynamic environment. By integrating QA practices throughout the development cycle, organizations can identify and address defects, bugs, and usability issues early on. It enhances the overall user experience and boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty.

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qa process in agile

Agile methodologies have gained immense popularity in today’s fast-paced software development landscape because they deliver high-quality products quickly. According to a survey by VersionOne, 97% of organizations practice Agile in some form. Within this dynamic framework, Quality Assurance (QA) in Agile development ensures that software meets the highest quality standards while aligning with customer expectations. A Consortium for IT Software Quality study found that organizations with strong QA practices experience 25% fewer defects in production.

Quality Assurance is critical in ensuring the software meets the desired quality standards and fulfills customer expectations. In an Agile environment, QA teams collaborate closely with developers, product owners, and other stakeholders throughout the development lifecycle to provide early feedback, detect defects, and maintain the overall quality of the software.

Role of QA process in Agile Development

Qa process in agile

Agile development is an iterative and collaborative software development approach focusing on flexibility, adaptability, and customer collaboration. Unlike traditional waterfall methodologies, where requirements are fixed, and development occurs in sequential phases, Agile methodologies embrace change and encourage continuous feedback and improvement throughout the development lifecycle.

Quality assurance (QA) is critical in Agile development by ensuring the software meets the defined quality standards and satisfies customer expectations. In an Agile environment, QA is not considered a separate phase that occurs after development but is an integral part of the entire software development lifecycle. 

QA’s involvement begins right from the sprint planning phase, where they actively participate in discussions to understand the user stories and acceptance criteria. This early involvement enables QA professionals to provide valuable inputs regarding testability and identify potential quality risks. By collaborating closely with the development team, QA professionals gain a deep understanding of the software’s functionality, which allows them to design comprehensive test plans and strategies. 

Furthermore, QA professionals contribute to the continuous improvement of the development process by actively participating in Agile retrospectives. These retrospectives provide an opportunity to reflect on the team’s performance, identify areas for improvement, and make adjustments to the QA process to enhance overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Benefits of Setting QA Process in an Agile Environment

QA Process in an Agile Environment

In an Agile development environment, establishing a robust QA process brings many benefits that contribute to the overall success of software development projects. By integrating QA activities seamlessly into the Agile workflow, organizations can achieve the following: 

Early Detection of Defects

One of the key advantages of incorporating a QA process in Agile development is the early detection of defects. In traditional software development approaches, testing is often performed towards the end of the development cycle, leaving limited time for identifying and resolving issues. However, Agile methodologies advocate for iterative testing throughout the entire development process. By involving QA professionals from the early stages, such as sprint planning and user story refinement, potential quality risks and testability challenges can be identified proactively. This allows QA teams to design comprehensive test plans and execute various testing activities, such as functional testing, regression testing, and integration testing, early on. The result is the early detection of defects, enabling swift resolution and preventing the accumulation of issues that could impact the final product.

Improved Collaboration and Communication 

Setting up a QA process in an Agile environment promotes improved collaboration and communication among team members. Agile methodologies emphasize cross-functional teams working together towards a common goal. In this context, QA professionals actively collaborate with developers, product owners, and other stakeholders throughout the development lifecycle. 

QA professionals contribute to discussions during sprint planning, ensuring a shared understanding of user stories and acceptance criteria. They work closely with developers, providing timely feedback on code quality and potential defects. By engaging in continuous communication, QA professionals and developers can address issues promptly, resulting in faster bug resolution and improved overall software quality. 

Furthermore, QA professionals act as a bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders. They are crucial in translating technical concepts and test results into clear, concise information that the entire team can easily understand. This promotes effective communication, aligns expectations, and enhances the overall efficiency of the Agile development process. 

Faster Feedback Loop 

In Agile development, a fast feedback loop is essential to ensure rapid iteration and course correction. QA teams are vital in providing timely feedback on the software’s functionality, usability, and performance. By continuously testing the product and giving feedback during each sprint, QA professionals enable developers to promptly identify and rectify any issues. 

The faster feedback loop facilitated by the QA process helps teams avoid the pitfalls of delayed feedback, which can lead to higher costs and time-consuming rework. Early identification of defects and immediate feedback allows Agile teams to address issues with more agility and cost-effectively. This accelerates the overall development cycle and enables faster time-to-market for the product. 

Continuous Improvement 

Agile development methodologies prioritize continuous improvement, and the integration of a QA process aligns perfectly with this mindset. QA teams actively participate in Agile retrospectives, where the team reflects on the sprint’s successes, challenges, and areas for improvement. 

By sharing their insights and experiences, QA professionals contribute valuable input to drive continuous improvement efforts. They can suggest enhancements to the testing process, identify areas where test automation can be implemented, and propose strategies to optimize test coverage and efficiency. 

Through the continuous improvement cycle, Agile teams can enhance their QA process, refine testing strategies, and implement best practices that ultimately lead to higher-quality software and increased productivity. 

Increased Customer Satisfaction 

The most significant benefit of establishing a QA process in an Agile environment is its ultimate impact on customer satisfaction. Agile methodologies inherently prioritize delivering value to customers in each sprint. Organizations can incorporate QA activities to ensure the software meets or exceeds customer functionality, usability, and quality expectations. 

Early detection and resolution of defects, improved collaboration and communication, faster feedback loops, and continuous improvement efforts collectively contribute to a higher-quality product. This, in turn, leads to increased customer satisfaction, as customers receive software that aligns closely with their requirements and performs reliably.

Moreover, the iterative nature of Agile development allows for flexibility and adaptability to changing customer needs. QA teams continuously validate the software against evolving customer expectations, ensuring that any changes or updates are thoroughly tested and meet the required quality standards.

Best Practices for Setting QA Process in an Agile Environment

best practices for QA process in an agile

Implementing an effective quality assurance process in an Agile environment ensures high-quality software development. Organizations should implement best practices that promote efficiency, collaboration, and continuous improvement to optimize the QA process within Agile methodologies: 

Define Clear Quality Objectives 

Clear quality objectives serve as a roadmap for the QA process in an Agile environment. These objectives should align with the overall project goals and customer expectations. By defining specific quality metrics, such as defect density, test coverage, and customer satisfaction levels, organizations can set measurable targets for the QA process. 

When quality objectives are well-defined, QA teams can focus on achieving those targets throughout the Agile development lifecycle. This clarity provides a shared understanding of what constitutes quality and enables teams to proactively work towards meeting those objectives. Regular monitoring and reporting on these metrics help stakeholders assess the effectiveness of the QA process and make informed decisions for continuous improvement. 

Involve QA from the Beginning 

It is essential to involve QA professionals from the project’s beginning to maximize QA’s benefits in an Agile environment. By including QA representatives in sprint planning, user story refinement, and acceptance criteria discussions, organizations can leverage their expertise to ensure testability, identify potential risks, and provide valuable test planning and strategy input. 

Early involvement of QA professionals also facilitates effective collaboration and communication between team members. By fostering a collaborative environment, teams can proactively address quality concerns, clarify requirements, and align expectations. This early engagement empowers QA professionals to design comprehensive test plans and execute testing activities in parallel with development, ensuring the delivery of high-quality software. 

Implement Test Automation 

Test automation is a critical practice that significantly enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the QA process in an Agile environment. Automated tests can be executed rapidly and repeatedly, allowing quick feedback on software functionality and regression issues. 

Organizations can free up QA resources to focus on more exploratory and critical testing activities by automating repetitive and time-consuming testing tasks, such as regression testing. Additionally, automated tests help ensure consistency and accuracy in test execution, minimizing human error. 

To implement test automation successfully, organizations should identify suitable tools and frameworks that align with their technology stack and project requirements. Collaborative efforts between QA and development teams are vital for creating a robust and maintainable test automation suite that covers a broad range of test scenarios. 

Utilize Continuous Integration and Deployment 

Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) practices are integral to Agile development and seamlessly integrate with the QA process. CI involves merging code changes frequently and automatically building and testing the application to identify integration issues and defects early on. 

By integrating QA activities into the CI pipeline, organizations can run automated tests as part of the build process, ensuring that each code change undergoes rigorous testing. This promotes early detection of issues, faster bug resolution, and a more stable codebase. 

CD extends CI by automatically deploying the successfully tested code to production or staging environments. This practice streamlines the delivery process, enabling rapid and frequent releases while maintaining high software quality. 

Emphasize Continuous Learning and Adaptation 

Continuous learning and adaptation are fundamental principles in Agile methodologies, and they apply equally to the QA process. To maximize the effectiveness of QA in an Agile environment, organizations should encourage a culture of continuous learning, where QA professionals stay updated with emerging technologies, industry best practices, and evolving testing methodologies. 

Regular retrospectives allow the QA team to reflect on their processes, tools, and challenges. By identifying areas for improvement, teams can adapt their QA practices and incorporate lessons learned into future sprints. 

Additionally, organizations should foster knowledge sharing and collaboration within the QA team and with other stakeholders. Conducting internal training sessions, hosting peer reviews, and encouraging cross-functional learning promotes a culture of continuous improvement and enhances the QA team’s collective expertise.

Conclusion

Implementing a well-defined Quality Assurance process in an Agile environment offers numerous benefits that can significantly enhance the overall development and delivery of software products. By integrating QA practices seamlessly into Agile methodologies, organizations can achieve greater efficiency, improved product quality, and increased customer satisfaction. Through continuous testing and feedback loops, QA professionals can catch and address potential issues before they escalate, thereby minimizing the chances of defects reaching the end-users.

How Can TestingXperts Help with QA Process in Agile Environment?

QA process in agile - TestingXperts

TestingXperts understand QA’s critical role in delivering high-quality software products quickly and efficiently. With our comprehensive understanding of Agile methodologies and a focus on collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement, we are well-equipped to help you achieve exceptional software quality while maintaining rapid development.  

What Sets Our QA Process Apart? 

Deep Understanding of Agile Methodologies:

Our team of experienced QA professionals has a comprehensive understanding of Agile methodologies, including Scrum, Kanban, and Lean. By aligning our QA process with Agile principles, we ensure seamless integration and collaboration with development teams throughout the entire software development lifecycle. 

Early and Continuous Involvement:

Our QA professionals actively participate in sprint planning, user story refinement, and acceptance criteria discussions. Engaging early, we contribute valuable insights to ensure testability, identify potential risks, and set clear quality objectives. This early involvement fosters effective communication, alignment of expectations, and proactive resolution of quality-related issues. 

Comprehensive Test Strategy:

Our QA process includes the development of a comprehensive test strategy tailored to the specific needs of each project. We employ a variety of testing techniques, including functional testing, regression testing, integration testing, and performance testing. Our experienced QA professionals design test plans that cover manual and automated testing to maximize test coverage while optimizing efficiency. 

Test Automation Expertise:

We leverage industry-leading tools and frameworks to automate repetitive and time-consuming testing tasks, such as regression testing. Our test automation experts work closely with development teams to create robust and maintainable test suites that provide fast and reliable feedback on software quality. Automating tests accelerates the overall testing process, improves accuracy, and enables faster time-to-market. 

Culture of Continuous Improvement:

Regular retrospectives provide a platform for reflecting on our processes, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing changes that enhance our QA practices. By staying aware of emerging technologies, industry trends, and customer needs, we continually evolve and optimize our approach. 

Contact us today to discover how TestingXperts can help you achieve your software development goals in an Agile environment. 

 

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Behavior Driven Development Testing: 7 Benefits that Ensure High Product Quality https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/bdd-testing?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bdd-behavior-driven-development-testing-7-benefits-that-ensure-high-product-quality Tue, 04 Apr 2023 14:40:41 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=28035

BDD testing offers several benefits for software development teams. By using a shared language and focusing on the behavior of the software, BDD can improve collaboration and communication among team members. This results in higher-quality code that is better aligned with the needs of the business and the end-users. Additionally, BDD can help identify issues earlier in the development process, saving time and reducing costs. Want to learn more? Read our blog for complete information.

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Content 1. BDD (Behavior Driven Development) Testing: An Overview 2. Significance of BDD Testing 3. Seven Benefits of BDD Testing that Ensure High Product Quality 4. BDD Testing: Use Cases Examples using Gherkins 8. Conclusion 9. How TestingXperts Helps Businesses with BDD Testing?

BDD (Behavior Driven Development) Testing: An Overview

Behavior-Driven-Development

BDD is a software development methodology that emphasizes collaboration and communication among developers, testers, and business stakeholders. BDD testing is a testing framework that uses natural language to describe the behavior of an application, focusing on its functional requirements and business goals.

BDD testing involves creating executable specifications called “scenarios” that describe the desired behavior of an application in a structured format. These scenarios are written using a natural language, such as Gherkin syntax, that is easily understandable by non-technical stakeholders.

BDD testing encourages collaboration and communication among all stakeholders, which helps ensure that the application meets the business goals and requirements. It also promotes test-driven development and agile methodologies, which can improve the quality of software and reduce time-to-market.

Significance of BDD Testing

Significance-of-BDD-Testing

BDD testing is becoming increasingly important in modern software development practices. BDD is a collaborative approach to software development that involves the entire team, including developers, testers, and business stakeholders, to ensure that software is developed to meet the needs of all stakeholders.

BDD testing emphasizes the importance of defining the behavior of a system before it is built and then testing that behavior to ensure that it is correct. This approach helps to eliminate ambiguity in requirements and ensures that software is developed to meet specific business goals.

BDD testing frameworks like Cucumber and Behave are gaining popularity among digital businesses because these frameworks enable the creation of executable specifications that both technical and non-technical stakeholders can easily understand. These specifications can be used to automate testing and ensure that software meets the requirements set out by the business.

Overall, BDD testing helps to ensure that software is developed to meet the needs of all stakeholders and that it meets the highest standards of quality. It is a collaborative and inclusive approach that is becoming increasingly important in modern software development practices.

Seven Benefits of BDD Testing that Ensure High Product Quality

Benefits of BDD Testing

Improved Collaboration:

BDD testing encourages collaboration between business stakeholders, developers, and testers. This helps to ensure that everyone involved in the software development process is aligned on the business goals and objectives and that the software being developed meets those goals and objectives.

Greater Clarity:

BDD testing uses a plain language syntax that is easy for non-technical stakeholders to understand. This makes it easier for business stakeholders to communicate their requirements and expectations to the development team and bring all teams on the same page.

Enhanced Test Coverage:

BDD testing focuses on testing the behavior of a software system, which helps to ensure that all important scenarios are covered. This helps to reduce the risk of bugs and other issues being introduced into the software.

Faster Feedback:

BDD testing provides faster feedback to developers, which helps to reduce the time it takes to identify and fix issues. This helps to ensure that the software is delivered on time and within budget.

Reduced Costs:

BDD testing helps to identify and fix issues early in the software development process, which helps to reduce the overall cost of development. This is because fixing issues later in the development process is often more expensive than fixing them earlier.

Increased Agility:

BDD testing is a flexible and agile testing methodology that can adapt to changing business requirements and objectives. This helps to ensure that the software being developed is always aligned with the business goals and objectives.

Improved Quality:

BDD testing helps to ensure that the software being developed meets the business requirements and objectives and that it is of high quality. This helps to ensure that the software meets the needs of the end users and it is reliable and easy to use.

BDD Testing: Use Cases Examples using Gherkins

Use-Cases-Examples-Gherkins

Conclusion

In conclusion, BDD testing is an effective approach to software testing that focuses on collaboration and communication between developers, testers, and stakeholders. It encourages the use of plain language to define test cases and promotes the creation of a shared understanding of the requirements and behavior of the software. By leveraging BDD testing, digital businesses can ensure that their software meets the desired outcomes and that all stakeholders are aligned on the features and functionality. BDD testing also helps to identify defects early in the development cycle, reducing the cost and effort of fixing issues later on. Overall, BDD testing is a valuable methodology for teams that want to improve their software quality and deliver software that meets the needs of their users.

How TestingXperts Helps Businesses with BDD Testing?

How-can-Tx-Help

TestingXperts (Tx) is one of the Top 5 pure-play software testing services providers globally. Tx has been chosen as a trusted QA partner by Fortune clients and ensures superior testing outcomes for its global clientele. Tx has experience with all industry-leading performance testing and monitoring tools, along with expertise in end-to-end application performance testing services, including network, database, hardware, etc. With a highly skilled team of performance testers, Tx helps businesses benchmark their application performance. Tx provides customized test results reports to clients that help them make informed decisions.

Our team of experienced professionals provides a comprehensive suite of services to help you achieve better quality software development through Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) testing.

Tx’s BDD Testing Services: Key Differentiators

Comprehensive Approach:

Our BDD testing services cover the entire software development life cycle, from requirements gathering to testing and deployment. We work closely with you to ensure that your testing strategy aligns with your business objectives and delivers the desired outcomes.

Experienced Professionals:

Our team of BDD testing experts has years of experience in the industry and has worked on projects of varying complexity. They bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to every project, ensuring that your testing strategy is well-designed and executed.

Customizable Solutions:

We understand that every project is unique, and that’s why we offer customizable solutions tailored to your specific needs. Our team works closely with you to understand your business objectives and develop a testing strategy that aligns with your goals.

Test Automation:

We use industry-standard tools like Cucumber and Selenium to create automated tests that verify the functionality of your software. This allows us to test your software quickly and efficiently, while also ensuring consistent and accurate results.

Cost-effective Solutions:

We offer competitive pricing for our BDD testing services, ensuring that you get the best value for your investment. Our focus on efficiency and quality ensures that you get high-quality testing services that meet your budget requirements.

Results-driven Approach:

Our BDD testing services are designed to deliver results. We work closely with you to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure the effectiveness of our testing strategy against these KPIs. This ensures that you get the desired outcomes from your testing efforts.

Continuous Integration and Delivery:

We can help you set up a continuous integration and delivery pipeline that automates your software development and testing processes. This allows you to quickly identify and resolve issues, and deliver high-quality software to your users faster.

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Importance of Test Automation in Agile https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/test-automation-in-agile/ca-en?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=importance-of-test-automation-in-agile Thu, 12 May 2022 10:14:59 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=22150 Importance of Test Automation in Agile

The core objective of agile methodology is to develop and deliver products faster. As businesses embrace test automation in agile software development, the overall productivity and deployment of software development activities accelerate to deliver high-quality software. Businesses get a fully functional, bug-free, and flawless product as a final product. However, implementing the right automation testing … Continue reading "Importance of Test Automation in Agile"

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Importance of Test Automation in Agile

The core objective of agile methodology is to develop and deliver products faster. As businesses embrace test automation in agile software development, the overall productivity and deployment of software development activities accelerate to deliver high-quality software. Businesses get a fully functional, bug-free, and flawless product as a final product.

However, implementing the right automation testing tools plays a vital role in enhancing the effectiveness of the agile and DevOps implementations.

Content

  1. What are Agile software development methodologies?
  2. Where does test automation fit into agile development?
  3. Four key factors that depict the importance of test automation in agile ?
  4. Benefits of implementing test automation in an agile environment
  5. How to implement test automation in agile?
  6. What tests can be automated in agile?
  7. Five major automation testing tools businesses can leverage
  8. Conclusion

Agile software development methodologies

Agile software development methodologies

Agile software development methodologies include Scrum, Kanban, Extreme programming, Lean development, and Crystal development.The scrum method is an important agile methodology wherein the development and testing activities are run parallelly within sprints.

A set of features are released in each sprint during the agile process, and continuous development and testing are performed to ensure faster releases. But, to ensure faster and quality releases, manual testing does not suffice in the latest agile and DevOps scenarios. Thus, businesses should embrace test automation using the latest automation tools to carry out the testing in an agile environment.

Where does test automation fit into agile development?

Where does test automation fit into agile development

The product is developed in iterations during the agile development, and testing is done within sprints. Each time a new feature is added to the software, the software needs to be tested again to ensure there are no bugs. Testing each feature manually becomes almost impossible for the QA team with so many new features added. Hence, automation testing should be leveraged for faster testing outcomes in agile development. Businesses should leverage various automation testing tools, such as Selenium, TestNG, Appium, Tricentis TOSCA, etc.

During automation testing, testers need to develop test cases according to the needs of the software to be tested. These test cases can be executed multiple times while performing continuous integration or continuous builds. This form of automation testing ensures that the software remains bug-free, and even if a bug is introduced, it can be easily identified in the early stages and can be fixed early.

This form of automation testing ensures that the software remains bug-free, and even if a bug is introduced, it can be easily identified in the early stages and can be fixed early.

Four key factors depicting importance of test automation in agile

Four key factors that depict the importance of test automation in agile

Test scripts reusability

Automated test cases can be reused, which means these test scripts can be re-run several times in different ways. This test reusability will reduce the maintenance costs to a great extent. The application of reusability eliminates human errors and saves cost.

Optimal test coverage

Test coverage plays a vital role in improving the efficiency of software testing activities. The depth and scope of tests are increased through automation testing activities. This is because testers need not run all the tasks manually. Instead, the testers can create a test suite for every feature of the application, such as internal programs, data tables, and memory contents.

By leveraging automation testing, complex test cases can be automatically run, ensuring better and faster test coverage. The manual testers’ work is reduced, and they can be used for other important tasks.

Faster test execution

The efficiency of the development process is significantly improved by the test automation process. Testing is done parallel to development to ensure all the bugs and issues identified are resolved at the earliest. Further, this sort of testing is also known as the ‘Fail Fast’ method, wherein as the defects are found early in the SDLC, they can be fixed early, and it also saves a lot of time.

Typically, if the automated testing is performed from the initial unit testing phase, then the defects can be found early and fixed, rather than fixing them at a later stage. Moreover, the time-to-market of a software product is also drastically reduced through the application of continuous testing. Developers and testers can save time and ensure to deliver a high-quality product at a quicker pace.

Cost-effectiveness

At the initial stage, the cost of test automation will be more as the required training, tool cost, and tool setup needs to be taken up to ensure effective test automation. However, with the test automation once set up, the cost factor will be reduced as the automation activity goes on for a longer time.

Further, without investing any additional costs, test cases can be run several times as and when required, thereby improving the overall speed and efficiency of the software testing activities.

Benefits of implementing test automation in an agile environment

Benefits of implementing test automation in an agile environment

Parallel testing can be performed wherein the same scripts are run on different devices

When the testing is done using test scripts, the reliability factor is scaled up to an all-new level

Agile software development can be carried out at a faster pace through the strategic application of test automation

Initially, the costs are high for implementing test automation in agile, but, eventually, the ROI is more

If a specific test script is developed, it can be used several times to test the software for bugs.

Test automation is an innovative way for carrying out agile methodologies cost-effectively and efficiently. Thus, it helps to improve the overall software testing activities by enabling a high-quality product in a shorter time with faster releases.

How to implement test automation in agile?

How to implement test automation in agile

Develop an effective plan for agile automation

For the success of an agile project, it is essential to prepare an automation testing plan that must cover the automation framework and. Also, ensure a proper collaboration between QA and the development teams.

Determine the test cases that can be automated

Not all test cases can be automated; therefore, identify the test cases that can be automated beforehand.

Conduct parallel testing

With automation in place, QA teams can execute several tests on different devices, browsers, and operating systems simultaneously. Specifically, parallel testing saves a good amount of time for the teams.

Adopt DevOps Integration

DevOps ensures proper collaboration between developers and operation teams. Also, testers can integrate the automation tool into CI/CD pipelines for effective testing.

Select the right automation tool

Testers should select the right test automation tool (open source or commercial tools). Test automation tools reduce regression testing time and ensure faster testing outcomes with high-quality software. However, while selecting the test automation tool, testers should ensure that the tool matches their technical skills, software testing needs, current IT infrastructure, etc.

What tests can be automated in agile?

Unit tests

Smoke tests

Integration tests

Regression tests

API tests

Security tests

Accessibility tests

Performance tests

Automation testing tools to leverage

Selenium

Tricentis TOSCA

Appium

TestNG

Katalon Studio

Conclusion

Automation testing helps QA teams create test cases that run automatically when new code is pushed to the code repository. Automation testing also scales up the agile development activities if combined with the right tools, expertise, and an effective automation testing roadmap.

Leverage the test automation services from a next-gen testing services provider to get high-quality products with a faster time-to-market and quicker ROI.

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Significance of Functional Testing for Businesses in Agile & DevOps https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/functional-testing-in-agile-devops/ca-en?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=significance-of-functional-testing-for-businesses-in-agile-devops Wed, 29 Dec 2021 14:45:45 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=21098 functional testing

Today’s businesses are rapidly adopting agile and DevOps to achieve faster and quality releases. DevOps methodology embeds faster releases achieved through continuous integration and continuous delivery of software along with continuous testing. Many software testing methods such as functional, regression, performance, security testing, etc., are leveraged to ensure high-quality products. Out of these methods, the … Continue reading "Significance of Functional Testing for Businesses in Agile & DevOps"

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functional testing

Today’s businesses are rapidly adopting agile and DevOps to achieve faster and quality releases. DevOps methodology embeds faster releases achieved through continuous integration and continuous delivery of software along with continuous testing. Many software testing methods such as functional, regression, performance, security testing, etc., are leveraged to ensure high-quality products. Out of these methods, the functional testing method plays a major role in the software release in the agile and DevOps processes. It helps businesses achieve fully functional and high-quality software in less time through faster and quality releases.

Table of Contents
  1. What is Functional testing?
  2. Types of functional testing methods
  3. Why do businesses need functional testing?
  4. Differences between functional testing and non-functional testing
  5. Unit testing vs Regression testing vs Functional testing
  6. How to do functional testing?
  7. Functional test case examples
  8. Significance of Functional testing in Agile
  9. Significance of functional testing in DevOps
  10. Various functional testing tools
  11. Conclusion


What is Functional testing?



What is functional testing



Functional testing in software testing is a black box type of software testing, and quality assurance method performed to test the software’s functionality and its related components. The main aim of this testing type is to validate the functionalities of an application against business requirements by providing certain inputs and validating the outputs.

Types of functional testing methods



functional testing methods



1. Unit testing:

It is the first phase of the software testing process, where developers test the smallest possible units of the software in isolation to validate its functionality.

2. Component testing:

In this software testing type, software components are tested individually without integrating them with other components.

3. Smoke testing:

This form of testing is also named build verification testing, which is used to determine the stability of the software. It helps testers know whether the code can be shared for further testing.

4. Sanity testing:

In this software testing technique, testers perform basic tests on the software. Whenever the build is received after some changes, this testing type is performed to ensure the bugs are fixed and the software functions properly.

5. Integration testing:

In this software testing type, various individual software modules are combined and tested as a group to ensure their proper functioning.

6. Regression testing:

In this software testing method, the software is tested to ensure that recent code changes or newly added functionalities do not affect the existing functionalities of the software.

7. System testing:

In this testing type, the quality assurance team evaluates the software to know how various components interact together. It ensures that the software works properly.

8. User acceptance testing:

In this testing method, the end-user/client/product owner tests the product to verify its functionality and usability before it is released in the market.

Why do businesses need functional testing?



functional testing in DevOps



Helps to validate the functionality and proper working of application/software/product

It helps to improve the quality of the software

Helps to verify the software functionality based on Software Requirements Specification (SRS) and ensures the system functions as per the user specifications.

Helps to test specific error conditions and other important functions of the software.

Helps to achieve fully-functional software which is defect-free to deliver a great CX.

Differences between functional testing and non-functional testing



functional testing vs. non-functional testing



Functional testing
Non-functional testing
Tests the functionalities/features of the software Test the non-functional aspects of the software, such as performance, usability, accessibility, etc.
Validates outputs against the inputs to ensure software functions properly Validates the app against defined SLAs or standards to ensure all the non-functional testing requirements are met.
Focuses on end-user requirements Focuses on end-user experience
Describes the behavior of the system Describes usability/performance of the system
It is based on functional testing requirements of the software It is based on non-functional testing requirements of the software
Various testing types: • Smoke testing • Sanity testing • Unit testing • Component testing • Integration testing • System testing • Regression testing • User Acceptance testing Various testing types: • Performance and load testing • Security testing • Usability testing • Accessibility testing • Compatibility testing • Localization testing


Unit testing vs Regression testing vs Functional testing



Unit testing vs Regression testing, vs Functional testing



Unit Testing
Regression Testing
Functional Testing
Tests the code in isolation to ensure it functions well Tests the existing code to ensure it remains unaffected due to recent code changes Tests the functionality of the software to ensure it works well
It is not complex, as small codes are tested in isolation It is complex, as software is to be tested repetitively after every code change It is complex, as the whole software is to be tested
To perform unit testing, the white box testing technique is used Either a white box or black box testing technique can be used to perform regression testing To perform this testing method, the black box testing technique is used
Focuses on the smallest possible units/codes of the software Focuses on existing functionalities/features of the software Focuses on the entire software
Performed by developers and also testers sometimes Performed by testers Performed by testers
Cost and maintenance are low The cost of maintenance is comparatively higher than unit testing. But, it is said to be lower than the cost of fixing a production defect The cost of maintenance is comparatively higher than unit testing. But, it is said to be lower than the cost of fixing a production defect
There are no further types in this testing method Testing types: • Corrective regression testing • Retest-all regression testing • Selective regression testing • Progressive regression testing • Complete regression testing • Risk-based regression testing Testing types: • Smoke testing • Sanity testing • Unit testing • Component testing • Integration testing • System testing • Regression testing • User acceptance testing


How to do functional testing?



functional testing in software testing



1. Identify the testing needs/requirements:

The first step of functional testing involves the testers who need to understand the business requirements and take a stance on the testing needs in detail.

2. Prepare a test plan:

The next step involves preparing the test plan. The test plan should clearly state the objective of the test, test methods, testing techniques, etc.

3. Write test cases:

It is an essential step wherein testers create test cases. The functional test cases should be prepared in a way that ensures maximum test coverage.

4. Create input data based on function specifications:

Now, to test the specific functionality of an application, testers have to create data and use it as an input. The data that is used to test the application is known as input data.

5. Execute the test case:

Testers execute the test cases using the input data that are identified during the preparation of test cases.

6. Compare the actual and expected output:

This is an essential step, where testers compare the actual output with the expected outcome. It is done to determine whether the test is a pass or a fail.

7. Log defects:

In the last step, testers note the variations between actual and expected outcomes and log these variations or defects to let teams know about the same.

Functional test case examples

Functional test case examples

Situation: Suppose there is an online music app, and below are the set of test cases to be evaluated:

User logs in with user account and password

The login page contains two text fields, i.e., username and password

It also has options, i.e., login and cancel

When the user enters the correct credentials, the action is successful, and the login page directs the user to the music app home page

If the user clicks on the cancel option, the login is canceled



Test Case ID
Specifications
Steps to Execute
Expected Result
TC 01 User Id – Minimum 6 characters, Maximum 10 characters, numbers (0-9), Letters (a-z, A-z), Special characters (only underscore, period, hyphen allowed) Password – Minimum 6 characters, Maximum 8 characters, Numbers (0-9), Letters (a-z, A-Z), All special characters *Both ID and password cannot be left blank 1. Open music app 2. Enter incorrect User ID and Password 3. Click on the Login button An error message should be displayed stating “Invalid ID or Password”
TC 02 User Id – Minimum 6 characters, Maximum 10 characters, numbers (0-9), Letters (a-z, A-z), Special characters (only underscore, period, hyphen allowed) Password – Minimum 6 characters, Maximum 8 characters, Numbers (0-9), Letters (a-z, A-Z), All special characters *Both ID and password cannot be left blank 1. Open music app 2. Enter correct User ID and Password 3. Click on the Login button The user should be directed to the music app home page


Significance of Functional testing in Agile



Significance of Functional Testing for Businesses in Agile



In traditional testing models like the waterfall model, the development and testing of the software happen one after the other, and usually, testing starts once the development is complete. However, in agile methodology, the product is simultaneously developed and tested in sprints, and features are rolled out in each cycle.

In an agile environment, at one end, the developers develop the software, adds new features, or make improvements to the code, while simultaneously, on the other hand, testers perform functional testing of the software. If some changes are introduced to the software, regression testing is performed to ensure the software’s existing functionality remains unaffected.

Common functional testing types performed in an agile environment include smoke, sanity, unit, component, etc. Functional testing in agile speeds up the software testing process, ensures early identification and removal of defects, enhances collaboration between teams and saves time.

Significance of functional testing in DevOps



functional testing in DevOps



In a DevOps environment, the main focus is building, testing, and releasing the software faster and more frequently. DevOps streamlines and automates the entire software delivery lifecycle by integrating it with the Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) pipeline. In DevOps, everything starting from development to the software release is continuous and automated. The software is continuously developed, continuously tested, continuously integrated, continuously deployed, and continuously monitored.

Automated DevOps functional testing is performed at each stage of the DevOps CI/CD pipeline to ensure software quality. During the development stage, unit testing is performed to ensure code quality. Also, in the DevOps environment, developers frequently commit changes to source code and merge those code changes to a central repository. Regression testing is performed to ensure code changes do not break the software’s existing functionality. At the continuous integration stage, integration testing is performed to ensure the proper integration of all codes and modules. Finally, the whole software is tested by leveraging system testing techniques to ensure the proper functioning of the software. This is how functional testing fits in the DevOps environment and helps businesses achieve high-quality software.

Some of the benefits of functional testing in DevOps include it helps to remove functional defects from the software much early and faster, ensures the software quality starting from build stage to release stage, delivers fully-functional software in less time, eliminates the chances of manual errors, as the process is automated, and saves significant time and cost.

Various functional testing tools



functional testing automation tools



Tricentis Tosca:

It is an intelligent test automation tool that can be used to test the software’s functionality. This tool allows continuous testing and integrates easily into the DevOps CI/CD pipeline.

Appium:

It is an automated software testing tool that can be used to test the functionality of native, hybrid, and mobile web applications. This tool allows testers to test mobile apps on various platforms, such as android, iOS, and Windows. This test automation tool supports various languages and works on JSON wire protocol (extension of Selenium JSON wire protocol).

Ranorex:

It is an all-in-one test automation tool for desktop, mobile, and web. This tool allows codeless test automation and can be used for testing software functionality. This software testing tool supports cross-browser and cross-platform testing. Ranorex easily integrates with the DevOps pipeline.

Selenium:

It is one of the widely used test automation tools best suited for web applications. This tool has various components, such as Selenium WebDriver, Selenium IDE, and Selenium Grid. This automation testing tool supports a majority of OS, browsers, and languages. Selenium also has a record and playback feature that makes software testing easy.

TestComplete:

It is a widely used test automation tool for mobile, desktop, and web. This tool supports various languages and can be used to perform keyword-driven and data-driven testing.

Conclusion

Today’s businesses are rapidly adopting agile and DevOps processes to achieve quality software in less time. But the quality of the software depends on its proper functioning, which can be ensured through end-to-end functional testing. This testing type helps businesses in many ways, such as improving the functionality of the software, enhancing customer experience, and saving significant costs. Businesses should leverage end-to-end functional testing from a next-gen QA and independent software testing services provider to achieve high-quality software in less time.

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Agile Vs DevOps Methodologies – A Detailed Comparison https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/agile-vs-devops-methodologies?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=agile-vs-devops-methodologies-a-detailed-comparison Tue, 14 Sep 2021 16:54:01 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=20535 Agile Vs DevOps

Today, every enterprise needs high-quality products and faster time-to-market to deliver a great customer experience (CX). But for businesses to fulfil the rising need for high-quality products, adoption of the latest and robust software development and testing methodologies is necessary. This is where the agile and DevOps methodology comes into the picture. The agile methodology … Continue reading "Agile Vs DevOps Methodologies – A Detailed Comparison"

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Agile Vs DevOps

Today, every enterprise needs high-quality products and faster time-to-market to deliver a great customer experience (CX). But for businesses to fulfil the rising need for high-quality products, adoption of the latest and robust software development and testing methodologies is necessary. This is where the agile and DevOps methodology comes into the picture.

The agile methodology plays a significant role in improving the team’s productivity with its iterative model. Whereas, DevOps methodology ensures effective collaboration between the development (Dev) and the operations (Ops) teams. Since Agile and DevOps methodologies are critical for enabling faster and quality releases, businesses are adopting them rapidly.

Content 1.  Overview of Agile and DevOps Methodologies 2.  Agile Vs DevOps Methodologies – Detailed Comparison 3.  Various Phases of Agile and DevOps Lifecycle 4.  How has the Journey from Agile to DevOps helped Businesses? 5.  Significance of DevOps CI/CD Implementation in today’s Agile Environment 6.  Major Software Testing Types for Successful DevOps CI/CD Implementation 7.  Conclusion 8.  How Can TestingXperts (Tx) help?

Overview of Agile and DevOps Methodologies

agile and DevOps methodologies

Agile Methodology

It is a software testing methodology that is guided by certain principles stated in the agile manifesto for software development. This methodology follows an incremental/iterative approach, and the main aim of this approach is to deliver quality software. It also involves continuous collaboration between stakeholders and teams and ensures continuous improvement of product’s quality. Moreover, in this approach, the software is developed and tested in small stages known as sprints, and each sprint varies from 1-3 weeks.

DevOps Methodology

This methodology aims to break traditional silos between cross-functional teams in the waterfall model. It is an evolution from agile methodology and is an enterprise software development and testing approach that emphasizes collaboration and communication between cross-functional teams. This approach involves continuous development, continuous integration, continuous testing, continuous delivery, and continuous monitoring processes to ensure faster releases and high-quality software.

Agile Vs DevOps Methodologies – Detailed Comparison

Agile vs DevOps Methodologies

Area of difference
Agile Methodology
DevOps Methodology
The main purpose of the methodology This methodology helps teams to manage projects easily by involving the stakeholders in the SDLC. Customer feedback and suggestion helps developers and testers to improve the product quality. This methodology helps to break traditional silos that earlier existed between cross-functional teams and encourages team members to work in close collaboration with each other with a faster feedback loop.
Delivery Product is delivered in increments after the completion of each sprint (one sprint usually lasts for 1-3 weeks). The goal is to provide continuous delivery of products by enabling CI/CD pipeline.
Teams This methodology focuses on keeping the teams small. It includes people with similar skill sets in one team. In this methodology, team size is relatively bigger as it combines cross-functional teams into one team and ensures seamless collaboration between teams.
Feedback Focuses on customer feedback and ensures quality product delivery. Feedbacks are gathered from internal teams and stakeholders that help to improve and speed up the product delivery.
Tools Kanboard, JIRA, Slack, Trello, Bugzilla, etc. Git, Puppet, AWS, OpenStack, Docker, Jenkins, Kubernetes, etc.

Various Phases of Agile and DevOps Lifecycle

various phases of the agile and DevOps lifecycle

Agile Lifecycle Phases
DevOps Lifecycle Phases
1. Requirements – It involves planning and gathering all initial requirements like product features, functionalities, expected results, etc., that are necessary for starting the agile software development and testing process. 1. Continuous Development – This phase involves planning the requirements and coding the software.
2. Design – In this phase, architectural design and the visual design of the software is finalized 2. Continuous Integration – In this phase, the developer frequently commits changes to the source code daily or weekly. Bugs in the source code are detected early, and new codes with more functionalities are integrated into the software. Also, teams (developer & testers) use various tools for unit testing, code review, integration testing, compilation, and packaging.
3. Development and Coding – It involves writing the code and converting the design into actual software 3. Continuous Testing – In this phase, the developed software is tested for bugs. The test environment is simulated by leveraging Docker containers. It also involves UAT testing along with other types of tests. The teams leverage continuous testing tools like TestNG, Selenium, JUnit, etc.
4. Integration and Testing – This stage involves integrating the various components of the software. The software is then tested to ensure it is bug-free and works as expected. With iteration, the testing becomes wider in scope and involves integration, interoperability, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), etc. 4. Continuous Feedback- It involves gathering feedback from the developers, operations team, and end-users/stakeholders which helps in improving the quality of the software.
5. Implementation and Deployment- The software is deployed on the server and delivered to the customers for a demo or actual use as a part of the UAT. 5. Continuous Monitoring – It is essential to continuously monitor the software’s performance to ensure all the functionalities work properly. Some of the continuous monitoring tools used in this process are Nagios, Splunk, Sensu, etc.
6. Review – Once all the previous steps are completed, the product owner reviews the progress. The product is then launched into the market after the complete satisfaction of the stakeholder. 6. Continuous Deployment – In this methodology, the code is continuously deployed to the production servers. Some of the configuration management tools include Chef, Puppet, Ansible, etc., and containerization tools like Docker, Kubernetes, Ant Maven, etc., that can be used during this process.
7. Continuous Operation – This step aims to automate the process of releasing the application and the subsequent updates. Development cycles in continuous operations are shorter, which allows developers to accelerate the time-to-market continuously.
8. Continuous Delivery- This is the final stage of the entire process that automates the process of deploying new builds into the production. The goal of this phase is to perform automated testing on each build and verify the build that is ready for production. It involves automatic provisioning and configuration of the test environment as well as testing of these environments. It deploys a new release into production post all bugs get fixed

How has the Journey from Agile to DevOps helped Businesses?

agile and devops Journey

In 2001, the agile manifesto had its birth which gave rise to the agile methodology. This manifesto contained certain values and principles that guide developers and testers to break the project into smaller parts, accelerate feedback loops and align product features with customer needs. The early adopters of agile methodology were small software start-ups that were eager to disrupt the market and were willing to take the risk. As this methodology matured, large enterprises started adopting it. The agile approach worked fine for some time as it helped developers to produce software in smaller parts. But later, it was realized that it lacks the capability of continuous testing and continuous delivery.

Due to the rising need for faster releases, high-quality software and faster time-to-market, businesses needed advanced methodologies such as DevOps processes. Companies started shifting from Agile to DevOps methodology as it helped them in many ways as listed below:

1. Breaks silos between cross-functional teams, thus enabling more collaboration 2. Allows teams to continuously test and improve the code thus ensuring the software fits customer needs 3. Ensures continuous delivery of the product by enabling a CI/CD pipeline 4. Helps businesses to improve overall organizational culture and ensures early-to-market with faster and continuous releases

Significance of DevOps CI/CD Implementation in today’s Agile Environment

DevOps CICD implementation

CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD), wherein a modern software coding philosophy allows developers to implement small changes and check code frequently. The main goal of CI is to establish a consistent and automated way to build, package, and test applications. CD is closely related to CI and enables automation of the entire software delivery process by leveraging automation tools. Further, it commits and delivers the integrated code into the production stage without any bugs or delays.

Both CI and CD are the backbone of today’s DevOps environment. There are various benefits that businesses can leverage by implementing the DevOps CI/CD pipeline.

• Helps in early bug detection –

Automated tests enabled by implementing CI/CD pipeline helps to detect bugs early in the SDLC.

• Improves the software quality –

Faster bug detection ensures faster bug-fixing and ultimately helps to ensure secure and reliable software.

• Ensures faster time-to-market-

Enabling CI/CD pipelines helps to increase the speed of software delivery considerably. It further helps businesses to reach the market faster and achieve a competitive edge.

• Allows faster feedback –

Typically, for any changes committed to the code, tests are run simultaneously, which helps to avoid any link breakage. Faster feedback through CI tools helps to check and improve the product quality.

• Provides greater visibility –

The CI/D pipelines give greater visibility of the entire DevOps process. This helps teams analyze the processes of software build, test results, and issues effectively.

• Automation saves QA teams time and efforts –

Automated CI/CD pipelines frees up team members so that they can focus on more important tasks and innovation. This ultimately saves their time and testing efforts.

Evidently, for businesses to reap complete benefits, they should embark on scalable CI/CD DevOps implementations by leveraging various software testing methods.

Major Software Testing Types for Successful DevOps CI/CD Implementation

Major software testing types for successful DevOps CICD

1. Test automation in DevOps-

Test automation is the backbone of the DevOps process. Therefore, businesses must leverage automated testing using various open-source and commercial tools to ensure continuous testing and the continuous delivery of software.

2. Security Testing –

This methodology lays a strong emphasis on security. Businesses must leverage security testing to safeguard software from threats and vulnerabilities.

3. Performance Testing –

To ensure software delivers a great CX even under heavy loads, businesses must leverage performance testing. This testing method helps businesses to improve the performance and load handling capacity of the software.

4. Accessibility testing –

Businesses must also leverage accessibility testing to ensure equal access to apps for all users, including people with certain disabilities like hearing impaired, impaired vision, cognitive limitations, etc.

5. Usability Testing –

Businesses need to ensure that the apps have an easy-to-use interface and proper navigation for enabling a great CX. To achieve seamless apps, businesses must leverage usability testing.

Conclusion

Businesses are rapidly moving towards DevOps methodology for various reasons. Firstly, it is an evolution from agile methodology thus making it easier for today’s businesses to adopt it. Secondly, this methodology allows businesses to reach the market faster and improve organizational culture. Lastly, it ensures great customer satisfaction, which is the need of the hour for all businesses. Businesses must leverage test automation in DevOps from the next-gen QA and independent software testing services provider for successful DevOps implementation and faster delivery of high-quality products.

How Can TestingXperts (Tx) help?

software testing services - testingxperts

TestingXperts (Tx) has been at the forefront in enabling test automation in DevOps services using the latest software test automation tools and also with an in-house accelerator, ‘Tx-Automate.’ Our test automation services best support business objectives by enabling an effective test automation strategy that is aligned with enterprise’s business goals.

Our Differentiators:


Certified automation experts with expertise in implementing advanced automation frameworks with 500+ testers
Standardized processes, templates, and toolkits for Agile and DevOps QA
A global team of QA professionals with a capability to scale up at both onsite and offshore
Dedicated DevOps expert teams ensure scalable, secure, and reliable testing services
Ensure automation with deployments and rollbacks performed in a click with low risks and high productivity
Deliver hassle-free project management with flexible engagement models
Recommend the best DevOps toolchain that best suits your project model
Focus closely on user security and protection
Expertise in industry-leading test automation (UFT, Selenium, TestComplete, Coded UI, etc.), Agile development tools (Rally, Scrumdo), and CI/CD tools ( Jenkins, Chef, Puppet, TFS, Hudson, Go, Bamboo, etc.), providing DevOps lifecycle automation
Enable continuous support and training for client teams

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A Detailed Guide on Agile Software Testing Metrics in 2023 https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/software-testing-metrics-guide?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-detailed-guide-on-agile-software-testing-metrics-in-2021 Tue, 18 May 2021 14:22:53 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=18901 Agile Software Testing

This week in our weekly blog series we have come up with a blog on ‘A Detailed Guide on Agile Software Testing Metrics in 2022’.
Software testing metrics are crucial for today’s agile businesses. These metrics help to effectuate the software testing process one step forward. Though, there are many types of software metrics available in the market. But, choosing the right metrics, implementing them correctly, and following them consistently is the only key to the success of the software testing process. Read this detailed guide on agile software testing metrics to know more.

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Agile Software Testing

Software testing metrics are crucial for every agile team member, testers, QA managers, project managers, and others, as these metrics help to effectuate the software testing process one step forward. Typically, all activities done by software testers or QA teams are essentially measured, reported, and tracked with the help of these testing metrics. There is no better way to improve agile software testing than to measure the software testing progress leveraging some effective software testing metrics.

But, testers often face difficulty deciding which metrics to choose from the numerous software testing metrics available. Moreover, even if one selects the right metrics, the key to software testing success and progress lies in quantifying results obtained from evaluating these metrics. Therefore, in this blog, a detailed outlook on the agile software testing metrics has been detailed.

Content 1. An introduction to Agile Software Testing Metrics 2. Broad types of software metrics 3. Why should businesses know about Software Testing Metrics? 4. What are the benefits of leveraging Software Testing Metrics? 5. Some characteristics and components of Software Testing Metrics 6. Broad lifecycle stages of Software Testing Metrics 7. Four main categories of software testing metrics 8. What are some of the critical software testing metrics businesses should know? 9. 4 Best practices to follow for tracking Software Testing Metrics effectively 10. Conclusion

An introduction to Agile Software Testing Metrics 

agile software testing metrics

Software testing metrics are quantifiable measures used to determine the progress of the software testing activities. Typically, they help teams track and monitor the software testing progress, quality, and productivity. The main aim of these testing metrics is to increase the efficiency of the overall software and uat testing process. These testing metrics help stakeholders make informed decisions about further improvements in the testing process by providing related information. There are many types of software testing metrics but broadly divided into four main types.

Broad types of software metrics

types of software metrics

Source code metrics –

software testing metrics types

The software’s source code is vital and measured for its quality using published source code metrics. These published metrics are divided into five categories based on their measure, size, complexity, coupling, cohesion, and inheritance factors.

Development metrics –

software testing metric types- Development metrics

These metrics measure the software development. It is vital to measure the number of defects within the code and the time taken to fix them. There should be more emphasis on the number of defects in the code than the time taken to resolve those defects. Suppose multiple defects are occurring numerous times in the code and required to be fixed multiple times. In that case, it depicts a gap in the developer’s skills or misunderstanding of the software testing requirements that need to be adequately addressed.

Testing metrics –

software testing metrics type

These metrics measure the product’s testing efficiency and evaluate the functionality and quality of the software. There are two main categories of testing metrics based on what they measure. The first is test coverage, and the second is defect removal efficiency. Test coverage metrics measure how many test cases were executed, how many test cases were still left to be completed, what parts of the software were tested, how much percentage of testing still left, etc. Whereas the defect removal efficiency metrics measure how many defects were identified, how many defects were removed, etc., and these metrics help improve the software product quality.

Project/Program level metrics –

Project level metrics

These metrics relate to the project quality and are used to quantify defects, cost, schedule, productivity and estimate various project resources and deliverables. Project metrics help teams to assess the health of a project and make informed decisions. These metrics reveal how well the project is getting completed as compared to KPIs selected previously. It helps project managers evaluate the project’s status, foresee possible risks, assess the team’s productivity and work quality.

Why should businesses know about Software Testing Metrics?

software testing metrics

•  To track the quality and progress of their software testing projects

  To determine the productivity of the existing software testing process

  To identify the areas of improvements

•  To effectively manage priorities and workload between software testing teams

  To help stakeholders make informed decisions about the software testing quality

  To track and monitor the effectiveness of organizational testing processes

  To estimate the cost and plan the schedule for future software testing projects

•  To help stakeholders decide if the existing technology or process needs an upgrade

By analyzing all the above points, businesses can further evaluate their software project’s effectiveness and software testing efficiency by using these metrics.

What are the benefits of leveraging Software Testing Metrics?

benefits of software testing metrics

These testing metrics helps to:

  Improve the overall project planning

  Confirm if the test quality is up to the mark

  Analyze risks if any

  Estimate the future cost and time

  Identify the areas of improvement

  Manage the workloads

  Reduce the overall test time

  Improve the product quality

  Enhance the customer satisfaction

  Increase the ROI

  Reduce the overall costs of the testing process

  Forecast the production delivery

Some characteristics and components of Software Testing Metrics

components of software testing metrics

  Should be simple, easy to understand, and computable

  Should be independent of the programming language

  Can be automated so that testers may not have to take readings manually

  Should make use of consistent units of measurement

  Should be cost-effective

  Should be adaptable to every software testing need

  Should be able to validate the testing process reliably and accurately

Some of the important components of Software QA and test metrics are:

 
1. Test Coverage 2. Test Status 3. Overall Test Progress
• Requirements • Functional & non-functional • Test cases • Code coverage • Test case (pass/fail) • Defects • Defect reports • Test goals & objectives • Test blockages, if any
4. Risks involved 5. Defects 6. Test status completion & Resources involved
• Technical • Business • Project • Categories • Trends • Detection percentage • Resolution status • Manual tests • Automation tests

Broad lifecycle stages of Software Testing Metrics

stages of software testing metrics

Stage 1 – Analysis:

stages of Software Testing Metrics

This stage involves the identification of metrics to be used. Once the metrics are identified, parameters are defined and set for evaluating the metrics.

Stage 2 – Communication:

Communication - stages of Software Testing Metrics

In this stage, the need for the metrics is communicated to the testing teams and stakeholders. The testing teams are also educated about the data points that should be collected for processing the metrics.

Stage 3 – Evaluation:

software testing metrics - evaluation

In this stage, the data is captured and verified by the testing teams. It also involves the calculation of metrics value as per the data captured.

Stage 4 – Report: 

software testing metrics - report

In this stage, a formal report with an effective conclusion is developed and shared with the stakeholders. Feedback is collected from the stakeholders regarding what further actions are to be taken up.

Four main categories of software testing metrics

categories of software testing metrics

Process metrics:

These metrics are used to measure and improve the ability of the software testing process, e.g., how many defects were identified during the testing process, how many defects were fixed, how much time was consumed in fixing the defects, etc.

Product metrics:

It deals with the quality of the software product and describes the product’s characteristics such as size, complexity, design features, performance, quality level, etc. The main aim of these metrics is to improve product quality.

Project metrics:

It describes the project characteristics such as cost, schedule, productivity, and also measures project efficiency such as how well the project is moving, and whether it is going as per schedule, or is it lagging behind the plan, etc.

People metrics:

It measures the ability and skill levels of software testing teams. E.g., Are teams working as per schedule, are the quality of defects teams identify within the stipulated time, the productivity of the team, etc.

What are some of the critical software testing metrics businesses should know?

critical software testing metrics

Seven Types of Software Testing Metrics

1.  Metrics for tracking agile testing efforts

2.  Metrics for tracking test efficiency

3.  Metrics for tracking testing efforts

4.  Metrics for tracking test coverage

5.  Metrics for tracking test effectiveness

6.  Metrics for tracking defects

7.  Metrics for tracking the cost of tests

1. Metrics for tracking agile testing efforts-

These metrics measure the testing efforts put in by agile testing teams to test the product. The metrics that come under this category are:

1.1  Sprint Burndown:

It is a chart that depicts the graphical representation of the rate at which teams complete their tasks and shows how much work is yet to be completed within a defined sprint period. Typically in this chart, the sprint dates are represented on the x-axis, and ideal effort hours for completing a task using the remaining hours of effort are represented on the y-axis.

1.2  Velocity:

It measures how much work a team completes on an average during each sprint. It compares completed tasks with the team’s estimated efforts. Agile managers use these metrics to predict how quickly teams can work towards attaining goals by comparing hours committed to and completed hours in previous sprints.

1.3 Code complexity:

These metrics count some linearly independent paths through a program’s source code. It is derived via a measure named cyclomatic complexity. These metrics help agile teams to determine the risk of unstable or error-prone code. By leveraging these metrics, agile teams ensure that the code adheres to established industry standards, such as indentation, inline comments, and correct usage of spacing.

2. Metrics for tracking the test efficiency:

Test efficiency is an important attribute that needs to be evaluated effectively. It depicts the quality level of the software testing process. Below listed are some of the metrics used for test tracking and to know its efficiency:

2.1  Passed test cases percentage = (No.of passed tests) / (Total no. of tests executed)×100 2.2  Failed test cases percentage = (No.of failed tests) / (Total no. of tests executed)×100 2.3  Blocked test cases percentage = (No.of blocked tests) / (Total no. of tests executed)×100

2.4 Mean time to repair (MTTR) = Total corrective maintenance time / Number of repairs

3. Metrics for tracking the testing efforts:

It is an important metric that measures or quantifies the efforts put in by testing teams to test the product. It helps stakeholders to evaluate and compare the expected vs actual testing efforts of testing teams.

3.1 Test execution coverage percentage= (Number of tests run) / (Total number of tests to be run)×100

3.2  Number of bugs per test = (Total number of defects) / (Total number of tests) 3.3  Average time to test a bug fix = (Total time between defect fix & retest for all defects) / (Total number of defects)

4. Metrics for tracking the test coverage:

These metrics depicts the real scenarios and situations of the testing process. It measures the total number of test cases executed vs the total no. of test cases that are still left pending for execution. Below listed are some formulas used for tracking the percentage of test coverage: 4.1  Requirements coverage = (Number of requirements covered)/(Total number of requirements)×100 4.2 Automated test coverage: This metric measures the percentage of test coverage achieved by leveraging automated testing. With time, the test coverage percentage should significantly increase and results in improved software quality. The more automated test coverage percentage, the lower are the chances of defects in the software.       Automated Test Coverage = (Total automated cases)/(total automation candidates)x100

5. Metrics for tracking test effectiveness:

In contrast, to test efficiency metrics, test effectiveness metrics measure and evaluate the bugs and determine the test set’s quality. Some of these include: Test effectiveness using defect containment efficiency = (Number of bugs found in test) / (Total bugs found(Number of bugs found in test+Number of bugs found after shipping))×100

6. Metrics for tracking defects:

It measures the defect percentage, defect density, defect severity, and all other aspects related to defects. These metrics help evaluate how many defects and their severity level to ensure the quality of the software testing process. Some of them are:

6.1  Accepted defects percentage = (Number of defects accepted as valid by a dev team) / (Total number of defects reported)×100

6.2  Rejected defects percentage = (Number of defects rejected as invalid by a dev team) / (Total number of defects reported )×100

6.3  Deferred defects percentage = (Number of defects deferred for future releases) / (Total number of defects reported)×100

6.4  Fixed defects percentage = (Total no. of defects fixed) / (Total no. of defects reported)×100

6.5  Critical defects percentage = (Critical defects) / (Total defects reported)×100

6.6  Defect density = (Total number of defects) / (Total number of modules)

6.7  Meantime to detect = (Number of defects found) / (Total execution time (in hours))

6.8  Defect severity index = ((No.of critical defects ×8)+@(No.of high severity defects ×6)+@(No.of medium severity defects ×3)+@(No.of low severity defects ×1)) / (Total no. of defects)

6.9  Defect Age (severity wise distribution): This metric reflects how many of the open bugs are open for long and the corresponding severity

6.10  Defect leakage: This metrics helps to counts the total number of escaped defects within the sprint that were found by the user rather than the agile development teams. Agile teams calculate defect leakage percentage per unit of time, per sprint, or release, etc.

Defect leakage percentage = (Total number of defects found in UAT/Production) / (Total number of defects found before UAT /Production)×100

6.11 Defect categories: The software defects can be divided into various categories such as:

• Area-wise distribution: These metrics reflect the defect distribution based on the testing type performed. E.g. Security defects, performance defects, Functional defects, etc.

• Component-wise distribution: This metrics represents the number of defects in each module of the software. By adding the number of defects in each module, testers can identify the total number of defects in the software. • Severity-wise distribution: This metrics represents the severity level of defects. It is possible that areas that have a minimum no. of defects could contain high severity defects; thus, those defects should be rectified first. It is usually represented in the form of a histogram or a Pareto chart. 6.12 Defect cycle time: These metrics measure how much time do these agile teams take from the point teams start fixing the bug till the time bug is resolved. It can be represented with the help of a chart where the x-axis represents the time, and the y-axis represents the number of hours taken to resolve the defects.

7.  Metrics for tracking the cost of tests:

During the software testing process, several components contribute to the testing cost, such as resources involved, tools and infrastructure cost, etc. It is important to track and evaluate the testing cost and to compare expected vs actual testing expenditure. The following metrics can track it:

7.1 The actual cost of testing = (Actual budget of testing) / (No. of testing requirements or test case or test hour) 7.2  Budget variance = Actual cost – Planned cost 7.3  Schedule variance = Actual time is taken to complete testing – Planned time

4 Best practices to follow for tracking Software Testing Metrics effectively

software testing metrics best practices

1. Link software testing metrics to business goals:

Link software testing metrics

Practically, it is almost challenging to track almost everything. Therefore, software testing metrics should be linked to business priorities. It is important to prioritize and select the most relevant metrics to business, which helps them achieve their goals.

2. Analyze the trends, not just numbers:

best practices of Software Testing Metrics

Often, it is seen that whenever testing metrics targets are met, the software teams declare it as success. But these simple, quantifiable targets do not represent the entire story. There is a lot more effort behind software testing, and therefore, trends need to be analyzed from time to time to determine in which direction the testing efforts are going and how progressive the final results are.

3. Break measurement periods into shorter time frames:

Software Testing Metrics practices

This helps the software development teams to analyze the software metrics and trends from time to time. With the help of shorter timeframes, teams can effectively determine how well the software testing process progresses.

4. Notifies progress to stakeholders:

Software Testing Metrics practices

Software testing metrics are used to represent complex processes to management and stakeholders with the help of simple numbers. These metrics should not be treated as a means to judge individual performances as the software testing process involves a lot of effort and other non-quantifiable aspects. Thus, metrics should always be used as a discussion starter by which teams and managers could discuss necessary improvements.

Conclusion:

There are many types of software metrics available in the market. But, choosing the right metrics, implementing them correctly, and following them effectively is the only key to the success of the software testing process. TestingXperts has been at the forefront leveraging software testing techniques to deliver superior quality deliverables to its clients. Talk to our testing experts today to know about different software testing types and get an edge with high-quality products.

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Agile Methodology – An Effective Guide for Businesses https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/agile-methodology?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=agile-methodology-an-effective-guide-for-businesses Thu, 21 May 2020 16:40:00 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=15108 Agile Methodology

In our weekly blog series, this week we have come up with a blog on “Agile Methodology.” Businesses should read this blog to know why they should adopt Agile approach and this blog takes you through an in-depth understanding on the same.

Today, agile methodology is more beneficial to every project development process as it ensures effective communication between teams, and ensures quality outcomes. This process of agile approach enhances the innovation as multidisciplinary teams collaborate and ensure business value with the product owner involvement throughout the delivery process. Read on

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Agile Methodology

Content 1. What is Agile Methodology 2. Agile Development Methodology Features 3. What are the principles of Agile Methodology 4. Agile Manifesto Principles 5. Benefits of Agile Methodology 6. Significance of Agile Methodology for Businesses 7. Types of Agile Methodologies and Frameworks 8. Conclusion

What is Agile Methodology

Agile methodology is the most significant approach to project management which is effectively used in the process of software development. This agile approach has been majorly introduced in the field of software development to overcome difficulties with earlier waterfall model and to make processes more flexible and effective.
What is Agile Methodology
The agile development methodology has revolutionized information technology and according to an article by Harvard Business Review, which states that, “Over the past 25 to 30 years they have greatly increased success rates in software development, improved quality and speed to market, and boosted the motivation and productivity of IT teams. Now, Agile methodologies involve new values, principles, practices and benefits that continue to spread across a broad range of industries and functions and even to the C-Suite.” Specifically, the agile methodology definition refers to the software development process centered around the idea of iterative development. In this agile development methodology, requirements and solutions evolve through proper collaboration between cross-functional teams and the product owner. This unique software development process ensures teams to deliver value faster with quality and predictability and handles changes effectively.

Agile Development Methodology Features

Iterative & incremental:

This agile methodology feature proposes incremental and iterative approach with frequent reassessments to make the product better.

Work breakdown:

The agile process consists of small cycles technically known as sprints or scrum. It involves breaking down the project work into iterations or sprints

Close coordination with product owner:

The product owner or customer has a first-hand overview of every stage of project development along with changes if any.

Parallel testing:

The software development and the software testing are taken up in parallel to ensure quality software is delivered. Regression testing is involved every time whenever new functions or logic is added

Effective collaboration between teams:

Testers and developers work in close collaboration when compared to the earlier waterfall model

Daily stand-up calls:

Every day scheduling of short and quick meetings as stand up calls is taken up to review the tasks status within the agile process

Timely Updates and Reports:

The agile methodology process places upfront the product owner to be updated with daily, and weekly reports on project status which makes the process transparent The agile development methodology emphasizes and practices four basic principles of agile manifesto which have been given below:

What are the principles of Agile Methodology?

agile development methodology
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools 2. Working software over comprehensive documentation 3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation 4. Responding to change over following a plan Evidently, the agile methodology steps and the process revolves around iterations as priorities can be shifted from iteration to iteration and new features tend to be added into the next iteration. Basically any agile manifesto is followed by some important agile principles which businesses should essentially know and adapt in their agile software development process.

Agile Manifesto Principles Businesses Must Know

1. Customer satisfaction through faster and continuous software delivery

Agile focuses on minimizing the time between ideations and launch. The goal is to provide a working product to customers in the shortest amount of time. Moreover, customers can be satisfied by following frequent iteration process along with aligning with the market requirements on a continual basis.

2. Accommodate changing requirements throughout the development process

Agile encourages changes that might take place during the development process. In Agile methods, the changing trends are observed, customer needs and behaviour are studied in-depth, and accordingly change requests are worked upon in the agile software development process.

3. Frequent delivery of working software

Agile methods believes in dividing a product into smaller components and then deliver those components frequently in the form of sprints. Through this methodology, these frequent mini-releases of the product that are built will actually boost the product’s overall development.

4. Collaboration between business stakeholders & developers throughout the project

A proper communication channel works wonders for any software project. It’s the teamwork in the agile model that dominates and hence there must be a proper communication channel set-up between the business stakeholders and the technical team. Typically, a product achieves success only if it is able to be viewed both from a business and technical standpoint. Hence, the business team and the technical team must work collaboratively.

5. Support, trust, and motivate the people involved

Team motivation plays an important role such that the efficiency and outcome of the project are up to the mark. The agile teams involved should have good hands-on experience to ensure project success.

6. Enable face-to-face interactions

One of the other agile principles revolves around the ease with which various teams can work in close collaboration using various video conferencing and other modes of interactions.

7. Working software is the primary measure of progress

From an agile methodology perspective, customers will respond to working software in a much better manner than a final product that is all perfect.

8. Attention to technical detail and design enhances agility

Despite the fact that agile methodology favours frequent releases and changes in requirements, there must be a stringent protocol set in place for carrying out agile activities, which brings orderliness to the work. This will only make the future less troublesome.

9. Simplicity

This agile principle focuses on churning out work from especially those areas where the outcome is up to the mark and satisfactory. This means that the team members must have a clear understanding of the project objectives and what is expected exactly out of them.

10. Self-organizing teams encourage great architectures, requirements, and designs

Agile methods encourages teams to make critical business decisions rather than depending upon a senior manager. The teams must work in such a manner that they are able to define the processes involved in the project at all levels so that the team members have an idea as to what the outcome can be.

11. Regular reflections on how to become more effective

The final agile principle states that teams must have a learning attitude so that they can learn certain processes they are not familiar with. Also, the teams must learn about the changing customer requirements and the trends going on in the marketplace, so that the concerned teams can adopt and implement best practices. After having known about the various agile principles, businesses should know the benefits of leveraging agile methodology. Some of the benefits given below.

Benefits of Agile Methodology

agile methodology benefits – Ensures early and quality deliverables – Addresses any changes within the project through change adoption – Delivers more business value as features are delivered based on the customer’s business importance – Ensures faster releases to enable faster time to market – Ensures high-quality development by breaking up project into manageable units of sprints – Ensures effective collaboration between teams and stakeholders to deliver value to customer – Eases dealing with costs & schedules with effective collaboration to ensure a more controlled environment – Delivers working software at frequent intervals through sprints – Overall ensures cost effectiveness

Significance of Agile Methodology for Businesses

agile methodology steps

Delivers real-business value:

This agile process focusses on driving real-business value to customers. This methodology places more value on outcomes by enabling quality products that meet the customer’s business goals. This agile methodology approach ensures effective collaboration between teams and stakeholders to achieve a complete understanding of the stakeholder’s business goals.

Close involvement of stakeholders in agile process:

Agile development methodology helps stakeholders to be involved throughout the project and helps to get an effective working model of the software. The process of software development is faster as bugs are identified early with parallel software testing process taken up along with development.

Ensures visual project management:

Businesses get a visual project management as agile teams enhance their ability to work collaboratively by presenting the data in a visual form. This eases businesses to comprehend project details and to manage change.

Scalability:

Businesses determine the scalability of a project based on the time and cost factors. Essentially the key advantage of agile methodology is that it is an effective and scalable project management tool.

Teams collaboration:

Specifically, for businesses, the ability of teams to adapt to change is a cornerstone of agile project management and is an important advantage of agile methodology in testing. Moreover, when agile teams put their time to good use, they deliver what the stakeholder wants without excess spending due to careful usage of teams’ skills and expertise. This sort of effective team usage and active collaboration between teams ensures there will be no overspending involved in the project.

Types of Agile Methodologies and Frameworks

agile testing methodology
1. Agile Scrum Methodology 2. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 3. Lean Software Development 4. Kanban 5. Extreme Programming (XP) 6. Crystal Methodology 7. Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) 8. Feature Driven Development (FDD)

1. Agile Scrum methodology:

Agile Scrum methodology process
This type of agile methodology is one of the most dominant agile methodology followed by enterprises. It is exclusively used by 58% of organizations and another 18% use it combined with other agile methods. This is a light-weight agile project management framework that is effectively used for controlling and managing iterative and incremental projects.

The scrum consists of various roles and responsibilities that are given below:

– A Scrum Master is responsible for the team overview, for planning of sprint meetings and also ensures proper collaboration between teams – There is a Product Owner who is responsible for product backlog creation and for delivery of the functionalities. The Product Backlog consists of features, bug fixes, other non-functional requirements, etc. – The Scrum team manages the work and is responsible to develop features and deliver them for each sprint cycle – Each iteration of scrum is called sprint and teams work on defined sprint backlog – Daily scrum meetings are conducted to evaluate the progress of the scrum teams – At the end of each sprint, team delivers functionalities developed and tested during that period to the product owner This is the most commonly used agile methodology and is suitable for all types of projects.

2. Scaled Agile Methodology (SAFe):

Scaled Agile Methodology
This is a leading framework for scaling Agile across the enterprise. This methodology is used by world’s largest organizations to achieve the benefits of lean agile software and ensures systems development at scale. This SAFe drives faster time to market, increases productivity & quality while also improving employee engagement. This methodology has been designed exclusively to deliver value on a regular basis and with predictable schedules for businesses. This method also provides a knowledge base of effective and integrated principles and practices to support enterprise agility.

3. Lean Software Development:

Lean Software Development
It is an iterative type of agile methodology and is a way of optimizing people, resources, effort, and energy of an organization with a basic aim of creating value to the customer. It is based on the principles of continuous improvement, eliminate waste, build quality in, create knowledge, defer commitment, deliver fast, respect people, and optimize the whole basic principles. In this Lean software methodology, along with all its underlined principles, every business represents a value stream. This value stream consists of activities required to design, develop and deliver a product or a service to the customer. By using this lean methodology, optimizing development time and resources is achieved. This methodology ensures delivering only what the customer needs.

4. Kanban:

Kanban agile framework
The term Kanban is a Japanese term in which “Kan” refers to “visual” and “ban” means a “card” or “board.” There are some differences between Kanban and scrum methodology. In Kanban approach, there are no fixed time boxes for anything like we have sprints in scrum model. The tasks are larger in Kanban and are relatively less of them than when compared to a scrum. The period of assessments is also less and visibly there is no speed in the team in Kanban. Typically, only an average time for full implementation is counted. As there are no sprints, teams work on a task from beginning to the end. The teams work from a Kanban board which based on team’s requirements consists of certain columns stated from left to right. Some of the common columns include Goals, Story queue, Elaboration & Acceptance, Development, Test, Deployment and Done columns. A special column with term ‘Expedite’ might be there which has the top-priority tasks placed in them. Overall, this Kanban methodology consists of three basic rules that include divide your work into tasks, limit the work in progress, and measure cycle time. Therefore, based on the business need, this method can be leveraged by businesses. Kanban technique is normally utilized by teams involved in maintenance and production support activities.

5. Extreme Programming (XP):

agile framework Extreme Programming-XP
This agile technique is useful for projects with constantly changing demands or requirements from the customers. This methodology is also useful when the product owner is not very sure about the functionality of their proposed system. In such situations, this methodology holds to be very effective. This XP approach ensures frequent releases of the product in short development cycles. It has checkpoints placed within the process where any new customer requirements can be easily implemented. Highly useful for businesses unsure about requirements of their proposed project.

6. Crystal Methodology:

Agile Methodology Crystal
This is one of the agile methodology which primarily focuses on people and interactions while working on a project rather than giving importance to processes and tools. It is one of the most light-weight and flexible approaches to develop software. The crystal approach properties include teamwork, communication, simplicity, reflection, responding and reporting, reasoning, frequent adjustments and improve processes. Moreover, crystal method focuses on people involved, interaction between teams, community, skills, talents of people involved, etc. Hence, crystal approach can be adopted by businesses for projects of different sizes.

7. Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM):

Dynamic Systems Development Method It is an agile methodology project delivery framework that is used for developing software and non-IT solutions and it forms a part of the Agile Alliance. This DSDM testing framework covers a wide range of activities across the development lifecycle and includes specific foundations and governance. Some of the principles of DSDM include focus on business need, deliver on time, collaborate, never compromise quality, build incrementally from firm foundations, develop iteratively, communicate continuously and clearly along with demonstrate control.

8. Feature Driven Development (FDD):

agile methodology Feature Driven Development It is an iterative and incremental software development process and blends a number of industry recognized best practices into a cohesive whole. Its main purpose is to deliver tangible working software in a timely manner, repeatedly. The project lifecycle includes developing an overall model, building a feature list, planning by each feature, designing by feature and finally building by feature. It is a simple five step process and ensures larger project teams to move products forward with continuous success. This agile methodology framework leverages pre-defined development standards which makes the teams to move quickly. It is best suited for large corporations or for those businesses working on large-scale software projects.

Conclusion

Today, agile methodology is more beneficial to every project development process as it ensures effective communication between teams, and ensures quality outcomes. This process of agile approach enhances the innovation as multidisciplinary teams collaborate and ensure business value with the product owner involvement throughout the delivery process. This agile approach ensures enhanced communication with close collaboration, and brings about organizational adoption to changes to deliver value to the business owner. Various agile methodologies can be leveraged by businesses based on the project size and based on the project need. Leverage our professional software testing team as we have been enabling customer success by adopting different agile methodologies for project delivery. Our next-gen testing services deliver exceptional value to your business. Connect with our agile teams today.

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6 Keys to Build Business Agility- Infographic https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/6-Keys-to-Build-Business-Agility-Infographic?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=6-keys-to-build-business-agility-infographic Wed, 11 Jul 2018 11:50:48 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=9792 Agile software testing Services

Today’s fast-paced technology-centric world presents opportunities and threats at every turn. It has become challenging to practice agile development no matter how big or small an organization you are. To become sustainable in this disruptive environment, agility is key. Here are the 6 keys to build business agility. Want to Download this Infographic? Click here

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Agile software testing Services

Today’s fast-paced technology-centric world presents opportunities and threats at every turn. It has become challenging to practice agile development no matter how big or small an organization you are. To become sustainable in this disruptive environment, agility is key.

Here are the 6 keys to build business agility.

Software Automated Testing Services – Must for Business Agility (Infographic)

Want to Download this Infographic? Click here

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Is Limited Agile Maturity Hurting your Development and Testing Process? https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/Is-Limited-Agile-Maturity-Hurting-your-Development-and-Testing-Process?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-limited-agile-maturity-hurting-your-development-and-testing-process Mon, 09 Apr 2018 14:41:32 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=9490 agile testing

Is your organization on the road to “going Agile”, but is confused with the level of changes involved? Have you already “gone Agile” but are not witnessing the anticipated results? Contents 1. What-is-Agile-coaching 2. Benefits-of-Agile-Coaching 3. Conclusion What is Agile coaching   The transition to agile impacts an entire organization and comes with its own set … Continue reading "Is Limited Agile Maturity Hurting your Development and Testing Process?"

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agile testing

Is your organization on the road to “going Agile”, but is confused with the level of changes involved? Have you already “gone Agile” but are not witnessing the anticipated results?

Contents 1. What-is-Agile-coaching 2. Benefits-of-Agile-Coaching 3. Conclusion

What is Agile coaching

 

The transition to agile impacts an entire organization and comes with its own set of challenges. When an organization or just a team transform from their existing way of working to Agile practices, the complexity of the transformation can be overwhelming at times. If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you would identify the importance of having a professional Agile coach to improve collaboration and increase efficiency, empowering you to derive optimum benefits from the agile framework.

With extensive Agile coaching, an organization’s product development agility can be improved. Here are 5 key benefits of Agile coaching that you may have never considered:

Benefits-of-Agile-Coaching

 

Immediate application: An exceptional Agile training program can offer a great jumpstart to an organization looking to implement agile methods in their current workflow with hand-holding on all Agile working best practices. The early days are most difficult and the coach can really help keep team’s effort on track.

Better Collaboration: An experienced Agile coach brings integrated methods for teams working across geographies and distinct cultures, but having a common agile interest.  A collective set of definitions that best elucidate agile terminologies and working practices can create an effective communication channel throughout the organization.

Improved Communication: Communicating the need for agile methodology is essential to inspire teams to embrace, scale-up, and thrive on agile methods. A coach builds out a vision showcasing the intrinsic worth of agile, how it develops the process and bolsters the engagement with customers. A coach will strengthen the need for communication as the basic foundation of Agile methodology.

Transformation Backlog: An Agile transformation must be piloted like an Agile project, which creates the need for a coach to create a transformation backlog. The transformation backlog is a list of work items created by a coach to evolve an organization into an Agile process. It can also be used to highlight major developments in the Agile process.

Continual Improvement: Corresponding to the importance of agile implementation is the continuous need to measure the organizational growth that agile adoption brings with itself. A coach forms a set of metrics to assess the amount of Agile adoption and also looks continuously at refining the practices. That’s how teams grow into becoming high performing Agile units.

Role Of Agile Methodology In Software And QA Testing Domain

Conclusion

Agile coaching is a sound investment for the organization in terms of time and money. As agile coaches bring the certified, as well as brand new practices and processes, there is a substantial value addition to the organizations. TestingXperts has created a complete support structure of agile coaches and consultants who work together and help organizations in successfully adopting and refining agile methods. Organizations working towards improving their agile practices can successfully navigate challenges and apply agile principles to real-world scenarios.

Connect with us and make your organization implement agile best practices, promote team collaboration, and design programs that enable you to respond to varying market conditions with ease and confidence.

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Critical Need for Automation Testing in the Software Ecosystem https://www.testingxperts.com/blog/need-for-automation-testing?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-critical-need-for-automation-testing-in-the-software-ecosystem Mon, 05 Mar 2018 14:39:30 +0000 https://www.testingxperts.com/?p=9433 Automation Software Testing Service Provider Company

Adoption of agile methodologies and best practices indicate that the organizations are constantly challenging themselves to get services and products to market faster. Automation testing is just one way to accelerate your project delivery and in doing so building up a regression pack of test scripts that can be run with minute effort in the … Continue reading "Critical Need for Automation Testing in the Software Ecosystem"

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Automation Software Testing Service Provider Company

Adoption of agile methodologies and best practices indicate that the organizations are constantly challenging themselves to get services and products to market faster. Automation testing is just one way to accelerate your project delivery and in doing so building up a regression pack of test scripts that can be run with minute effort in the shortest amount of time. The three greatest benefits brought together by test automation are reduction in time, usage of resources effectively and efficiently, and increasing the test coverage.

Automation Testing

Test automation significantly shortens the testing lifecycle and increases the speed of the testing process.  Automating your test scripts allows you to save a huge amount of time instead of just running them manually. Automated tests can be easily built once you have the primary tests in place, which means that the testers can add tests into the regression pack and build a greater test coverage quickly. This implies that every industry at this time or in future will need help on all aspects of Automation Testing. Let us understand how test automation as a service is bringing value to the organizations.

Role of Testers Redefined

The role of testers has been transformed with the arrival of the concept of Agile, DevOps, and Continuous Delivery. This concept has been evolved from the arduous Manual Testing process to fast and recurrent Test Automation. Automation has been highly responsible for the transforming and evolving role of a tester. In an Agile environment, when testers and developers have to collaborate, the overall culture of the teams change, testing gets quicker, and releases get more frequent. Automation cannot work without an effective testing strategy. The role of a tester will progress in an automated testing environment.

Clear focus on Quality of Testing

As quality is kept at the forefront these days, there is an increasing need for automation to ensure quality. This is a shared responsibility of the development team and the testing team. Automation can create a huge difference in redefining software development at every stage of the cycle. Furthermore, organizational strategies will be changed, and there will be evident structural changes to accommodate quality within their systems. Quicker delivery will be the main objective, but only automation can help in achieving speed with quality.

Quicker Feedback

Speed has become the prerequisite across various industries. Automation can, in all possible ways, help give instant and rapid feedback to the team, which also cuts down the delays and lays focus on improvement. Automation adds value by speeding up the arduous and tedious testing activity that is required for making sure that you achieve the desired result. In a certain way, automation in testing makes the activity more and more perceptible and assessable for considering the ensuing activities.

Adopt Test Automation Services in Agile Testing

In Conclusion

Automation testing is the sure-shot method, bringing desired value to the organizations and helping them bring agility with quality. The need for automation testing cannot die in the future but only provide the desired outcome with well-aligned and dedicated teams that are able to work on projects and scripts.

TestingXperts is a automation testing company provides qa automation testing service with its extensive experience and an intelligent Test Automation Framework ‘Tx-Automate’. Connect with us to leverage our QA Automation Testing services.

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