Agile Testing: Best Practice for Quality Software

In this fast paced business world, companies are constantly under pressure to adapt to the changing market demands. Organizations that create software for various purposes have to adopt testing strategies that can ensure that the product is error free and functions perfectly according to the requirements.

Staying competitive in the market is the only means to survive and for that adopting a proven and effective testing methodology is important.One solution that most IT companies are trying is to move from the waterfall model and adopt the agile model. Agile testing is a practice that follows specific incremental model and the software is also developed in rapid and incremental cycles. The process is highly collaborative, iterative and is also focused on the repeatable and rapid delivery of the software.

Agile model offers a framework to the testing team that gives a constant evolving functional and technical landscape that primarily focuses on the delivery of business value. Since the software is tested in increments and then released, there is a need to test often and this helps to detect the bugs early and minimizes risks in the later stages.

Important Benefits of Using the Agile Testing Methodology

In Agile, both the programmers and the testers work as a single team and it is after each development cycle that the software is tested and released for the next stage.

• Increased market share and revenues: We all are aware of the fact that customers continually look for new offerings and companies who bring new product to the market are able to gain more profits. Agile testing helps to bring better quality products to the market early and this increases the profitability and revenues.
• Reduce costs:Agile testing model helps to fix a defect close to its introduction and this helps to reduce the cost than fixing it sometime later. In this model, programming and testing is done in parallel and this helps to detect the defects at an early stage and also helps to prevent them. The tester has specific skills and can use tools to detect them.
• Improved quality:The agile model lays great emphasis on quality and automated testing. There are many tools that help in automation and ensure that the codes are error free and thoroughly tested. It helps to reduce the production defects and maintain high quality of the product.
• Faster time to market: Another biggest advantage of using Agile testing is that it helps to reduce the time to market compared to the waterfall model. In the traditional model, testing starts once the entire project is delivered and it takes about 3 to 6 months to complete a project. And it is after that the testing process starts. But this is not so with the Agile development as testing occurs simultaneously. This reduces the cycle time by 25% or even more.
• Satisfied customers: End users often find it difficult to put their requirements in a document, even before seeing the actual software. Agile testers work with the end users to specify the requirements and they also work simultaneously with the developers to check if the exact requirement is met.