Best Practices of Agile Test Automation

The acceptance of Agile software development and Agile testing has picked up a significant speed over the last few years. The traditional methods in SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) are now substituted by Agile SDLC methodology where an enormous focus is laid on collaborative-decision making.

Iterative and incremental process models are employed for the planning and implementation of normal iterative cycles called Sprints. The principles of Agile testing can also be employed in automation testing. Did you know that Agile testing and DevOps are regarded to be one of the biggest software testing trends in 2021?

In this article, we deep jump into Agile testing and reveal the best practices of agile test automation.

Introduction to Agile Testing

For beginners, agile testing is a methodology of testing that is based on the principles of agile software development. Simultaneously with iterative product development, the center is set on continuous testing. Product specifications are obtained from the customer and related folks from the testing team are included in the complete process.

Product development and testing go hand-in-hand, which is not the case with usual software testing. The tight integration of testing with the development process helps in discovering flaws at the early stages of product development.

Agile testing not only helps in creating a high-quality software product but also enhances the collaboration between developers, integrators, and testers – the fundamental pillars of any software product.

Best Practices For Agile Test Automation

Automation Testing has been playing an important role in the field of software testing, with many companies opting for Scriptless Test Automation that helps QA teams stimulate the time-to-market strategy.

Agile test automation has made important inroads in the field of automation testing and it is necessary to include its best practices to make the most out of automation testing with Agile.

It is suggested to partner with an automation testing company like TestUnity that has prior experience with agile test automation. It can benefit in quickly including agile test automation in your project(s).

Without further ado, listed under are the best practices of agile test automation that are best-suited for a broad range of software projects:

Embrace TDD and ATDD

The core purpose of agile test automation is to enhance product quality by ensuring that the development team and QA team are always on the same page. Collaboration is the guiding support of test automation with Agile. Test-Driven Development (TDD) should be employed by QA teams for the improvement of test scripts before the start of product development.

On similar lines, Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) should be used for the development of acceptance tests. Members from various teams (e.g. development, product management, testing, etc.) collaborate for writing tests way ahead of product development.

The adoption of TDD and ATDD decreases the overall effort included in the maintenance of test scripts.

Choose the best-suited test automation tool

The ROI of Agile test automation is mainly dependent on the proactiveness and productivity of the team members included in the process. That is why it becomes essential to pick a test automation tool that can promote the process of automation testing.

Selenium is one of the widely used test automation frameworks which supports popular programming languages like Python, JavaScript, PHP, C#, Java, and Ruby. Cypress is another test automation framework that is observing acceptance from the testing organization.

The guideline is to choose a tool that not only suits the project’s needs but presents a range of features in terms of third-party integrations, decreased maintenance, platform compatibility, and more.

User Stories for Test Cases

Automation test cases are designed based on the features performed in the product which in turn are obtained from the product specification. In agile test automation, the center is laid on creating test cases employing test scenarios and user stories.

This helps in facilitating the process of test automation since the testers no longer have to wait for the complete product specification to get commenced with the automation testing.

Focus on System Level Automation

The UI of a web product will observe modifications after receiving feedback from team members and users of the product. The effort required in the maintenance of automation tests grows exponentially if the tests are generated keeping the UI in mind.

To evade such situations, automation tests in an agile environment are performed at the middleware (or services) and systems level. By following this method, alterations in the product UI do not result in any changes in the test automation suite.

Automation of Regression Tests

In simple words, Regression Testing is about re-running current test suites (or test scenarios) that have been tested on previous product releases. Regression tests help in assuring that new implementation updates have not violated any existing functionality.

In an agile testing environment, regression tests should be a member of the CI/CD pipeline to assure that units of code (or new feature implementation) do not break the build when mixed into the production branch.

Faster regression tests and enhanced test coverage are achievable by implementing automation of regression tests in the CI/CD pipeline.

Development and Testing in tandem

The major difference between traditional testing and agile testing methodologies is that developers and testers operate jointly to roll out a quality release (or product).

In an agile automation testing environment, automation tests recorded by the QA engineers form the fundamental base of the development activity. With the growth in product development, testers have to work closely and cooperate with the development team for assuring that implemented features job as per the expectations.

Change is Constant

Incremental changes & improvements are a component of any agile process. Frequent releases are produced through Sprints. Your team requires a change of mindset to adapt to the agile method.

Therefore, development and QA teams have to be receptive to frequent changes as it will help in enhancing the product quality.

Also Read: Top Automation Programming Languages Of 2021

Conclusion

Just like Software is eating the world, it is sensible to mention that agile test automation is eating the traditional method of testing. To make the most out of agile testing, it is essential to communicate with the team about the positives of the procedure.

We as an organization like TestUnity that has experience in giving automation testing services to a broad range of customers can help in getting started as well as stimulating agile automation testing activity. This collaborative strategy can be instrumental in implementing the agile test automation best practices at scale.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.