As the speed of software delivery accelerates, technology teams feel immense pressure to release high-quality digital products at breakneck speeds. Research shows that 75% of organizations now identify as embracing agile or iterative approaches. However, only 25% of teams are actualizing the full benefits. Quality assurance (QA) struggles to keep pace with continuous code changes.
This is where following structured agile testing methodologies comes into play.
Agile testing interweaves quality assurance into rapid development cycles through test automation, collaboration, and by shifting testing left. Top companies like Netflix, Spotify and Amazon sprint faster while bolstering reliability via agile testing practices.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the facets involved in implementing a smooth agile testing life cycle (ATLC) to deploy higher quality software faster.
Agile Testing Overview
Let’s level set on exactly what agile testing entails at its core before diving into the life cycle.
Agile testing applies agile philosophies like continuous iteration and feedback loops to software testing. Instead of delayed QA, it facilitates persistent testing to uncover defects rapidly as code gets developed.
As technologies like continuous integration and test automation pipelines matured over the past decade, agile testing earned mass adoption for these key strengths:
62% improved software quality
Agile testing delivers better code quality through test-driven development and emergent architecture.
55% faster time-to-market
Earlier and frequent feedback flags issues sooner when cheaper to fix, speeding up delivery.
45% boosted productivity
By embedding testing into agile sprints, teams build, test, and learn synchronously.
Now that we’ve validated the immense value agile testing can provide, let’s explore how to leverage the agile testing life cycle to realize these benefits.
Stages of the Agile Testing Life Cycle
The agile testing life cycle brings together various testing practices across the software development timeline:
Let‘s examine each agile testing phase more closely:
Sprint Planning
Kicking off each sprint, the cross-functional team scopes out user stories and requirements for the iteration.
Key activities:
- User stories: Define specs and acceptance criteria
- Test strategy: Review test scope, types of testing, environments, data needs
- Prioritization: Clarify what test cases take priority
Aligning on the test strategy provisions for everything needed for quality assurance even before development gets underway.
Unit Testing
Unit testing verifies each individual component (or “unit”) works in isolation before integrating into the full system. QA engineers or developers author automated unit tests to validate discrete pieces of code meet requirements.
Tips for effective unit testing:
- Comprehensive: Test edge cases and negatives beyond happy paths
- Isolated: Stub/mock dependencies to test only the unit in focus
- Repeatable: Make tests easy to rerun by externalizing setup logic
- Fast feedback: Easily incorporate into CI pipelines to fail builds fast
Target 75%+ unit test coverage as an optimal goal.
Integration Testing
Next, integration testing confirms that related units or components interact correctly when combined.
While unit testing verifies individual modules in isolation, integration testing detects issues with interfaces between integrated components. Common test types include:
- API testing
- Database testing
- Component integration testing
- End-to-end workflow testing
Supplement automated testing with exploratory manual testing for complex scenarios like negative test cases.
Functional & System Testing
During this system testing stage, the entire application is tested from end-to-end to confirm all user stories and requirements operate as expected.
Functional testing encompasses activities such as:
- Executing test cases based on specs
- Testing front-end UI flows
- Validating error handling
- Performing regression tests
- Analyzing defects
- Comparing to expected outcomes
Leverage test data and environments mirroring production for realistic use cases.
UAT & Production Testing
As development nears completion, user acceptance testing (UAT) validates the solution works properly for real users before officially going live.
During UAT, business teams test scenarios like:
- Key workflows align to specifications
- Production-grade test data properly configures the system
- Easy to follow user interface flows
- Realistic user load is handled smoothly
- Edge use cases not uncovered during functional testing
Smoke tests executed post-deployment provide further safety assurance.
Defect Review & Retesting
Inevitably defects uncovered during testing are routed back to developers. Once code is repaired based on test results, another round of QA is initiated:
- Revised components get unit retested
- Integration points are revalidated
- End-to-end scenarios are re-executed
This retesting process bolsters quality through the agile testing cycle.
Creating an Effective Agile Test Strategy
While understanding the agile testing lifecycle stages provides strong foundations, crafting an actionable QA strategy connects the dots.
Follow these best practices for an effective agile test strategy:
Collaborative Planning
Include testers within sprint planning and backlog refinement to assess scope, expectations, dependencies and risks early.
Task Prioritization
Clarify which test cases and scenarios take priority based on resourcing and sprint objectives. Focus on user stories first.
Right-size Test Automation
Decide which test types to automate vs. perform manually. Target automating 50%+ of regression test cases.
Facilitate Visibility
Promote real-time visibility into testing status, test coverage and defects via shared reports and boards.
Driving Quality Through Continuous Testing
A major benefit of agile testing is how continuous test execution and persistent feedback cultivates quality:
Test Automation Frameworks
Test automation is fundamental for executing tests rapidly and frequently enough to match development velocity. Manual testing alone cannot scale.
Frameworks like Selenium and Appium provide the test automation capabilities for web and mobile apps. Prioritize starting small with critical user journeys first.
Embedded Pipeline Testing
To enable fast feedback loops, embed testing commands into CI/CD pipelines. Example test types to include:
- Unit tests run after code is merged to catch issues early
- Integration tests performed before deployment to staging
- Functional tests execute on staging environment pre-production
Trigger test suites automatically rather than waiting for scheduled testing phases.
Analyzing Testing Metrics
Leverage tangible metrics to guide improvements:
- Unit test coverage %
- % of automated test cases
- Number of tests executed per commit
- Lead time from code to production
- Defect resolution rates
Consistently measure agile testing metrics to drive conversations on better balancing speed and quality.
Instilling an Agile Testing Mindset
Perhaps most critical for agile testing success? Embracing key agile values and principles across the testing organization:
Here are tips for fostering an agile testing mindset:
Rapid iteration: Break testing effort into smaller chunks aligned to sprints vs. big bang testing.
Manage regression risk: Address tech debt before adding new tests through test optimization automation. Document flaky tests.
Reward discovery: Highlight defects found positively as they improve code health rather than penalize.
Shift testing left: Enable earlier feedback by integrating testing disciplines across the life cycle via CI/CD pipelines.
Continuous improvement: Turn testing into a first-class citizen by learning from defects and process obstacles each sprint.
Key Takeaways
The agile testing life cycle punctuates development sprints with continual test feedback loops:
Validated requirements via test case collaboration during planning
Frequent automated checks across integration and functional testing
Rapid validation of code changes through pipeline
Measured quality using standardized metrics
Regular synchronization on scope and pace between dev and QA
From aligning QA to agile cadences to instilling a culture focused on failing fast – following structured agile testing methodologies results in more reliable applications delivered quicker.
By interweaving testing deeply across the entire software development lifecycle, organizations can confidently accelerate application release velocity on their digital transformation journeys.
