12 December, 2013

Major Challenges in Agile Testing & The Role of Automation

The Agile testing approach emphasizes on agility and speed. The development process runs concurrently along with the evaluation process. Testers have to work often as well as fast since the development model is time-boxed. The testing of the code has to be done very frequently, in fact in some cases almost daily. This makes Agile testing quite challenging, more so in comparison to evaluation of traditional development methods. If not handled properly there is a risk involved of Agile testing becoming uncontrolled, chaotic and unstructured. But when automation and agile testing are implemented together, it is possible to overcome those challenges.

Inadequate test coverage
Independent software testing
This can be hugely problematic; with Agile, there is an increase in volumes of tests. Due to that, often for every user story, too little results of tests are written down which leads to lack of visibility into codes changed all of a sudden. Sometimes developers change codes that are beyond the scopes of released features which are done for many reasons. To tackle this challenge tests should be linked to user stories which will provide insights into test coverage.

Short deadlines
It is not always very easy to take care of deadlines; there are times when we have very little time for testing at a cycle's end. Long evenings along with proper documentation will help in that case. However, it may be challenging since testers are required by Agile to work by deadlines each day. So make everything work, the automation of most tasks must be done well.

Codes broken accidentally because of frequent builds
If daily builds are performed, there always remains a risk of breaking the existing code. When sole reliance is on manual testings, full regression of the existing code every day is not practical. So the best bet is to use automated evaluation tools for recoding and running of tests automatically. This will ensure the testing of more stable features without new code breaking into them.

Detection of defects
It is very important to detect defects early on during the development cycle; being late will need more money and time for the fixing process. In fact, if the defects could not be found till the production, it will prove to be a bigger problem altogether. Implementing peer reviews along with using of static analysis tools for scanning of code for identification of defects early on, can help in this respect.

Ignoring traditional evaluation techniques
As the movement of agile testing is faster, the coping of the flowing development stream is very challenging for testers. So it is best to adopt a streamlined as well as proper approach. For that you should not be just dependent on documents but you should constantly keep interactions with stakeholders, developers, end users and clients.

Detection as well as fixing of bugs
The main aim of this testing is detection and getting rid of major bugs during the very initial stages. It is very expensive to fix bugs during the later stages of development cycle. In fact, despite identifying the bugs, fixing within the specific time-frame may be extremely challenging. This can be resolved by running static analysis tools over source codes. Automated tools can also be used for detection of hidden bugs.

Bad API Testing
The best coding skills are not necessarily inherited by testers. These days, the APIs are revealed by most software so that it can be easily used by other developers for integration along with other uses. If this area sees any mistakes the application or software's popularity will be seriously crippled. Using API testing tools that are automated will give Agile testers an edge to tackle API evaluation.

According to the points discussed here, agile approach needs to be dealt with accuracy as well as speed. Manual testing is not a process that can be relied upon solely. Efficient automation will make the testing processes better and faster. Thus automation has to be implemented during all levels so that you can ensure all angles. Independent software testing companies can help immensely in this regard.

We provide QA testing services. If you would like to hire automation testers, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.

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