AGILE TESTING BENEFITS

What is Agile Testing?

Agile as the name refers implies something to do very quickly. Agile testing is used whenever customer
requirements are changing dynamically. Hence Agile Testing refers to validate the client requirements as
soon as possible and make it customer friendly. As a Tester, you need to provide your thoughts on the
client requirements rather than just being the audience at the other end.

If we have no SRS, BRS but we have test cases do you execute the test cases blindly or do you follow any
other process.

Test case would have detail steps of what the application is supposed to do.
1. Functionality of application.
2. In addition you can refer to Backend, meaning look into the Database. To gain more knowledge of the
application.
Introduction to Agile Testing
While the given application under test is still evolving depending upon the customer needs, the mindset
of the end user and the current market condition, it is highly impractical to go for the usual standard
SDLC Models like Water Fall, V&V Model etc. Such models are most suitable for the Applications that are
stable and non-volatile. The concept of Time-To-Market is the key word in todays IT Business that
compels the Software vendors to come up with new strategies to save the time, resources, cut down the
cost involved and at the same time, deliver a reliable product that meets the user requirements. In this
case, a reasonably good amount of end-to-end testing is carried out and the product could be
acceptable with known issues/defects at the end of an intermediate release. These defects are harmless
for the Application usability.
To adopt such a process in a systematic way, we have a new concept called Agile Methodology. This
methodology continuously strives to overcome the issues of dynamically changing requirements while
still trying to maintain a well-defined process.
The process is as follows:
1. The Customer prepares the Business Requirements and the Business Analyst or the Engineering team
reviews it. Ideally, the Quality Assurance/Testing team is also involved in reviewing these requirements
in order to be able to plan further stages accordingly.
2. During the Design and Implementation stages, the Engineering team writes User Stories and the
analysis of issues at various stages. The Customer reviews these on regular basis and updates the
Requirement specifications accordingly. The Testing team would follow up on regular basis at every
stage until a consolidated documentation is prepared. This is to ensure that the Customer, the
Engineering team and the Testing team are at the same page always and thus ensuring complete test
coverage.
3. While the Engineering team starts the implementation, the Testing team starts with test planning,
test strategies and test cases preparation. These would be properly documented and handed over to the
Customer and the Engineering team for review. This is to ensure the complete test coverage and avoid
unnecessary or redundant test cases.
4. As and when the Developer implements the code, the Testing team identifies if the application can be
built using this code for a quick testing. This is to identify the defects at the early stage so that the
developer can fix them in the next round on priority basis and continue with further development. This
iteration continues until the end of the code implementation. Once the testing cycle starts, the Test
team can now focus more on major test items such as Integration, Usability Testing and System Testing
etc..



Process followed at various stages in the product life cycle:

Every intermediate release of the product would be divided into two short cycles, usually of the duration
of 40 days each. Each cycle would be executed in the following stages. The roles and responsibilities of
every individual and the team are clearly defined for each stage.

- Design Specifications: The Testing teams efforts would focus on performing any tool or process
improvements and reviewing, understanding, and contributing to the nascent specifications.
- Implementation: While the Engineering/Development team is implementing the code, Testers would
develop complete Testing Plan and Test Sets (set of test cases) for each of the features included in the
cycle. Engineering features must be included; they would likely require some level of collaboration with
the engineering feature developer. All Test Sets should be ready to execute by the end of
implementation period of the respective cycle. After Test Set preparation, calculate the time estimation
and prioritization for the Test Set execution based on the complexity and expected execution time for
each test suite.
- While the test execution time estimation is notoriously difficult, this number should provide the
Customer with a starting point for benchmarking.
- Testing/QA: Test Set execution, raising defects and follow up with the Engineering Team. End-to-end
validation of the defects. Focus simultaneously on improving the quality of test cases. Watching out for
and adding new cases as testing proceeds. Testing the software end-to-end to discover regressions and
subtle systemic issues. Learning to focus more on using the time available to uncover the largest number
of and most important bugs. Any deviation from the estimated time should be communicated across
well in advance, so that the schedule can be worked upon depending upon the priority of the pending
tasks. If there are certain issues or test cases blocking due to unknown errors, they would be differed
until the beginning of next Testing/QA Cycle.
- Before acceptance: Follow up on ad-hoc requests/ changes in requirements on a regular basis, besides
trying to complete the defined tasks.

The role of testing within agile projects as:
1. Testing is the headlights of the project where are you now? Where are you headed?
2. Testing provides information to the team allowing the team to make informed decisions
3. A bug is anything that could bug a user testers dont make the final call
4. Testing does not assure quality the team does (or doesnt)
5. Testing is not a game of gatcha find ways to set goals, rather then focusing on mistakes
The key challenges for a tester on an agile project are:
1. No traditional style business requirements or functional specification documents. We have small
documents (story cards developed from the 44 inch cards) which only detail one feature. Any
additional details about the feature are captured via collaborative meetings and discussions.
2. You will be testing as early as practical and continuously throughout the lifecycle so expect that
the code wont be complete and is probably still being written
3. Your acceptance Test cases are part of the requirements analysis process as you are developing
them before the software is developed
4. The development team has a responsibility to create automated unit tests which can be run
against the code every time a build is performed
5. With multiple code deliveries during the iteration, your regression testing requirements have
now significantly increased and without test automation support, your ability to maintain a
consistent level of regression coverage will significantly decrease
The role of a tester in an Agile project requires a wider variety of skills:
1. Domain knowledge about the system under test
2. The ability to understanding the technology be used
3. A level of technical competency to be able to interact effective with the development team
Advantages offered by Agile Methodology:

The very first advantage is the saving of time and money. There is less documentation required though
documents help to a great deal in verifying and validating the requirements but considering the time
frame of the project, this approach leads to focus more on the application rather than documenting the
things. Since it is iterative in its form, it tends to have a regular feedback from the end user so that the
same can be implemented as soon as possible. And because all phases of SDLC need to be completed
very quickly, there is a transparency to each individual working on the project with the status of each
phase.
Another advantage that Agile Methodology offers to other approaches available is that in case there is
any Change request or enhancements come in between any phase, it can be implemented without any
budget constraint though there needs to be some adjustment in the already allotted time frame which
will not be a difficult task for the projects following Agile tactics.
Daily meetings and discussions for the project following Agile approach can help to determine the issues
well in advance and work on it accordingly. Quick coding and Testing makes the management aware of
the gaps existing in either requirements or technology used and can try to find the workaround for the
same.
Hence, with the quicker development, testing and constant feedbacks from the user, the Agile
methodology becomes the appropriate approach for the projects to be delivered in a short span of time.

Principles behind Agile Manifesto:

- Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of high-quality
software.
- Welcome changing requirements, even late in testing. Agile processes harness change for the
customers competitive advantage.
- Deliver high-quality software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.
- Business people, developers, and testers must work together daily throughout the project.
- Build test projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.
- The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a test team is face-to-
face conversation.
- Working high-quality software is the primary measure of progress.
- Agile processes promote sustainable development and testing. The sponsors, developers, testers, and
users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good test design enhances agility.
- Simplicitythe art of maximizing the amount of work not doneis essential.
- The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
- At regular intervals, the test team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its
behavior accordingly.
Agile Testing: Example
Agile methodology with Extreme Programming and test-driven development was used to develop the
Smart Client Offline Application Block. The following are highlights of the approach taken on the project:
1. The test team and the development team were not formally separated. The developers worked
in pairs, with one person developing the test cases and the other writing the functionality for
the module.
2. There was much more interaction among team members than there is when following a
traditional development model. In addition to using the informal chat-and-develop mode, the
team held a 30 minute daily standup meeting, which gave team members a forum for asking
questions and resolving problems, and weekly iterative review meetings to track the progress
for each iterative cycle.
3. Project development began without any formal design document. The specifications were in the
form of user stories that were agreed upon by the team members. In the weekly iterative review
meetings, team members planned how to complete these stories and how many iterations to
assign for each story.
4. Each story was broken down into several tasks. All of the stories and corresponding tasks were
written down on small cards that served as the only source of design documentation for the
application block.
5. While developing each task or story, NUnit test suites were written to drive the development of
features.
6. No formal test plans were developed. The testing was primarily based on the tasks or stories for
feature development. The development team got immediate feedback from the test team.
Having the test team create the quick start samples gave the development team a perspective
on the real-life usage of the application block.
7. After the task or story passed all of the NUnit test cases and was complete, quick start samples
were developed to showcase the functionality. The quick start samples demonstrated the usage
of the application block and were useful for further testing the code in the traditional way
(functional and integration tests). Any discrepancies found in this stage were reported
immediately and were fixed on a case-by-case basis. The modified code was tested again with
the automated test suites and then was handed over to be tested again with the quick start
samples.


Testing in an agile environment can be a challenge, but the benefits to having good testing are
enormous. Here are a few keys to agile testing success:
Test Early The key to agile is iteration: developing, testing, and developing again. To get the
most out of an agile process, you have to test early. That means that you think about testing not
just after the first couple of sprints, but at the very beginning of the development cycle.
Test Often A good agile process emphasizes frequent testing. You are looking for defects early
in the testing cycle. The longer defects wait in the code, the harder and more expensive they will
be to remove.
Refactoring/Regression Stop every few weeks to focus on stability. Fix bugs, refactor old code,
and run extensive regression testing to make sure you didnt miss bugs during the ongoing
testing process.
Test from a Customer Point of View As with any development process, its critical that the
testers and developers know the customers point of view. That means having good stories with
customer relevant material, and then sharing those stories with the development team as well
as the testing team.
Separate Testing from Development This is often difficult for smaller teams, but testers
should be independent. Keeping testers separate means they can develop true testing expertise
while focusing on finding bugs.
Communicate Having good communication between the testers, developers, and product guys
is a key essential to a solid agile process. Even though testers should be separate from
developers, they should work closely together to get the most from testing.
Automate What you Can The best agile teams automate as much of their testing load as they
can. Repeatedly testing the same case over and over is a waste of time. Locating new bugs is far
more valuable for any tester.