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Why automation testing is important in agile development

Software development technology has been continuously improving. When talking about software development methods one can simply not ignore the role which testing plays in software development. Therefore in order to maintain pace with latest software development technologies testing needs to be done faster than development.

Imagine you are building a big Software-as-a-Service product like for example Salesforce. The product contains 1000 features. To keep up with the competition, you must also release a new feature each month. Imagine that you are required to test the product. You will need to verify that the new features are not affecting any of the existing features. All 1000. Imagine that you must test all 1000 of them within one week.

What was the situation 'before-Agile?

Waterfall Development Technology was an established software development method before Agile software Development. The Waterfall model is a method of developing software in a series, starting with designing, planning, development, testing, and then moving on to testing. The most important feature of the Waterfall model is that the next phase can only be completed after the previous phase has been completed. This means that product testing is only done at the end of each phase. The only way to address any user requests at an advanced stage is to re-develop your application. If testers find a bug, the entire process must be re-developed to fix it. It is also difficult to release the product once it has been fully built.



What is Agile Development?

Agile development and testing are done in multiple iterations. Agile Development incorporates Continuous Integration, Continuous Development and Continuous Deployment. Continuous deployment is only possible if the product has been continuously tested. Advanced testing techniques and faster testing are required for more rapid testing. Agile can be thrown out the window if development happens at a faster rate than testing. Slow testing methods will not allow you to implement Agile.

What does automation testing mean for agile development?

Testing methods must be more efficient in order to meet the demands of rapid deployment. Let's look at an example application. Imagine a game application being created. The first version of the game is released to the public. With each update, new features are added. The gaming application will continue to be deployed, with all new features being tested alongside the existing ones. It is almost impossible to manually test all features when there are so many. Automation testing is the solution.

If the right tools are used effectively, automation testing can resolve your problem with fast testing methods. You can use a variety of tools to automate testing, such as Selenium and TestNG, Appium and Cucumber, Test Studio and others. This tool requires a test case that is tailored to the software/application being tested. These test cases can be run multiple times and used to build continuous builds. This allows you to ensure that each step is error-free. If a bug is discovered, it is easy to pinpoint the stage at which it entered our program.

When is Automation Testing appropriate for Agile Development?

  • A single test case can be repeated.
  • If your test cases take a lot of time and are tedious.
  • You may need to run test cases with different data or conditions multiple times
  • You may need to run a similar test for different user groups.
  • You have a very limited release window. If so, saving time should be your priority.
  • Test cases that require testing with different browsers and environments should be performed
  • This certification is for professionals in testing who wish to gain advanced knowledge in Selenium automation testing.
  • Here is a quick glimpse at the Selenium Advanced certification by LambdaTest.
  • Things that Make Life Harder for Agile Developers
  • There are many challenges that an agile tester might face. These challenges can be overcome with proper testing methods.

Early detection of defects:

While it's easier to find a defect early in development, it can be more costly and time-consuming to fix. However, if the defect is discovered later in the cycle of development it will become more difficult and expensive to fix. There are two options to solve this problem: code reviews can be done in the future or static analysis tools can be run on the source code. These tools are used to find missing routines, enforce code standards, identify deviations from coding standards, and correct errors that could occur in production due mismatches of data types.

Inadequate API Testing:

Because of the complexity of API testing, you will need to have advanced knowledge of programming. This is because it is possible for your API to not be tested correctly many times. There are many tools that can check API functionality without you needing to be a coding expert. This will ensure your services are properly tested.

Inadequate coverage for testing:

Continuous integration and changing requirements can sometimes cause you to miss critical tests. Unanticipated code changes can also cause you to miss the coverage. To ensure that all changes were properly tested, it is necessary to perform a source code analysis to identify any modules that have been changed.

Broken code caused by frequent builds:

The code changes and compilations become more frequent, affecting the functionality of existing features. Every time the code is modified, it must be compiled and tested. This is difficult because of limited resources so testers need to implement automated testing .

Performance bottlenecks

With addition of more and more features, the complexity of code also increases.Performance issues will be faced if the developer loses track of how this is affecting the end user performance. You need to determine which code sections are causing problems and how performance is affected by these issues. To identify slow areas and track performance over time, you can use Load- and Automation Testing Tools.


Why Automation Testing is a favorite of Agile Developers

Speedier: Automation of testing adds speed to our development process.

Reliable deployments: The reliability of is greatly increased by using scripts to test the procedure.

Parallel Testing: Same script can run on different devices hence simultaneous testing

Reusable code scripts: After a script is developed, you can reuse it a number of times to verify the software bug. You can also make different updations in the same script for current user requirements.

Conclusion

Automation testing is a key component of Agile Software Development. Automation testing can be applied to Agile to easily overcome the difficulties of Agile.

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