Key Reasons for Considering Regression Testing in Agile World

Introduction

Agile Software Development has innumerable advantages that bring about a lot of positive changes for the better. Getting quicker ROI and time-to-market, enhanced user feedback and continuous upgrades are some benefits that make Agile a highly sought after development model in the industry.

Like everything else, Agile has its problems. It is a big challenge for Software Testing and Quality Assurance companies to handle Agile Sprints with iterative practices like regression testing.

This blog will be looking into the challenges and discuss how these can be dealt with so that strong Agile development pipelines can run comprehensive regression tests without missing out on the advantages of speed, efficiency, and accuracy.

What is the problem with Regression Testing and Agile?

You might be able to understand from the name that Agile Development is related to speed. The sprint cycles are not lengthy and last for 2 weeks or less. The developers push out certain features in each cycle, and even the cycles need to be timed to keep up with the development speed.

In reality, each time a new feature gets introduced, it should be tested along with the pre-existing features. With every new build, there is a chance that the new code will clash with the last written code, hence ruining the pre-existing features or functions. User Experience should get enhanced by new functions and not get degraded.

Regression Testing helps to fulfil this by checking whether the new code ruins the older features. It also makes sure that the new code improves or keeps the old code undisturbed with every new build.

Regression Testing For Agile Development

To introduce Regression Testing into Agile pipelines, QA teams at most Software Testing Consulting Companies must streamline and prioritize tests through a risk-based, collaborative approach. Other than that, they should stick to automation so that the tests can be properly accelerated to resemble the Agile timelines.

Let us have a look at a few of the regression testing practices in the Agile procedure.

  1. Risk-based Approach: QA teams select test cases linked to Software Modules mostly influenced by the latest changes and rank them based on risk level and run the test based on that. 

High-risk test cases include the delicate Software functions that the end-users can see, are defect prone or important for the complete functionality.

  1. Medium-risk prone cases: These cover rare situations like (negative test results and boundary value tests). Less important tests include all the other aspects and are usually a part of the last regression test before a significant product release. To start with, Agile teams should have testers right from the start of the initial development stage.
  1. Collaborative Approach: The QA team takes care of every change introduced in a sprint. They will do it by structuring the tests based on priority and then making it possible for the other team members to suggest corrections whenever required. In this situation, developers need to decide whether the newly added features can influence critical operations, hence being able to keep all the Quality Assurance scripts and structures on track and properly efficient.
  2. Go For Automation: Automation is not negotiable to quicken up regression tests for Agile Sprints. Begin with an automated regression test script. After that, make changes with each new feature. This is why the QAs will have to target creating incremental alterations with each sprint and never run the tests individually. Keep in mind that the testers need to invest a little manual test effort in the initial stages, like studying the product flow, software logic, UI alterations and a lot more.

It’s most sensible to introduce Automated Regression Tests after the Software gets developed to an extent, with a few big changes already there. More than that, we should punctuate regression tests with manual checking to check the wrong positives and negatives.

As mentioned earlier, regression test suites should be updated every time you observe the developed software changes. Check it after every sprint, throw away the outdated test cases and add important ones to streamline the quality assurance procedure.

Agile Software Development has brought about lots of advantages that have undoubtedly changed the procedure for the better. These benefits make agile the preferred development model in the industry.

  1. Do Not Aim For Complete Automation:

Doesn’t matter how great the test infrastructure, 100% automation is just not possible. The least that can be done is that the test scripts can be written and the results checked by actual testers. In the perfect case scenario, 70 to 90% automation is actual because some test cases would result in wrong positives/ negatives and aren’t suitable for the regression tests.

As discussed, the collaborative viewpoint to regression testing in Agile Development assists with this. Developers can aim at exactly the parts of the app that are usually destabilized by a different code, and QAs can form regression tests in the same way.

Conclusion:

Regression Tests are vital for every development structure as it makes sure that the incremental development procedure doesn’t destroy an app at any point. Designing and implementing regression testing to adjust to Agile requirements combines the superb Agile principles with the safeguarding representation of comprehensive testing for delivering defectless, high-quality user experiences in a competitive period.

Why HikeQA?

HikeQA is a trustworthy, experienced, and motivated Quality Assured Software Testing Company providing the best regression test cases for your applications to ensure a seamless and friendly user interface. Contact us for your queries.

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