With the rapid and continuous developments in the field of software technology and the increase in the pace of the marketed products, not only software development but software testing for quality assurance has also evolved. Another development in this field is that more and more software companies today, are replacing traditional methods of testing with agile testing. The agile testing methodology is automated and delivers quick results compared to the manual traditional testing methods. Its focus is business-centric, market-centric and product-centric simultaneously.
In agile testing, testing is an integrated part of the whole development process rather than an isolated process. Development and testing are carried out consecutively at different checkpoints to ensure minimal errors and continuous quality control.
Why is agile testing important?
Agile testing enables higher returns as well as reduced production time thanks to some of its unique features that include:
Errors are detected early:
The agile testing method employs instant feedback to fix errors in the code as soon as they are detected. No sooner than the codes are somewhat in place, the software testing process begins and detects errors from the very early phase. Approximately 47% of the errors are linked to requirements and on the other hand, 28% are attributed to the design. As the development process gradually proceeds further, the cost of fixing these errors keep rising as well. The process of instant feedback helps cut out this increased cost by fixing defects as they come up.
Flexibility to Change:
Since the agile testing method is carried out in small increments over a brief time period, if the need arises to adopt new requirements or market expectations due to a shifting business environment, it can easily absorb the shift and enable the business to respond with relevant functionality and according to the consumer needs at that given time. This helps in optimizing consumer satisfaction.
Better Products:
In agile testing, the process of development and testing go hand in hand, almost in the waterfall model. This results in reduced time consumption for the purpose of testing. Compared to the traditional testing method which detects errors in every 10 hours, agile testing detects an error very six minutes. Therefore, the testing process does not have to be compromised due to time constraints. Companies that have shifted to the agile testing process have reported a 63% increase in their product quality with a 70% drop in their rate of error.
Risk Management:
Since this process develops a product in small increments, it is possible to release a beta version of the product first to test the market response rather than having to go all in. This process is particularly beneficial for an upcoming website. Website testing with agile using the beta version of the site will enable good analysis and help the developers gain a good insight into how the site is going to perform. By integrating customer feedback into added utility features, it is possible to better it in a way that it satisfies the consumers to a certain point. On the other hand, if the beta version does not receive a favorable response in the market, the company can very well step back from the project before investing too much time or money on it.
Manageable:
Agile teams are usually made up with a small number of people and are hence easily manageable. Every individual in the team has and knows their very specific roles and together work as a piece of big machinery. Small teams involved in the different small phases of the whole process making it easier to plan, monitor risks, set up achievable deadlines and measure Return on Investments (ROI).
In today’s highly competitive and fast-paced IT market, the agile methodology helps to bring down the total time consumption by almost 37 percent. Moreover, along with that, it also brings a drop of almost 26% in average cost. Apart from that, the rising popularity of the agile method in the field of software testing is also due to the fact that it helps in reducing a lot of friction in the testing process itself, making the job of error-fixing a lot smoother, and hence, that ensures the expected quality levels of the product.
