Regression Testing Strategy: 5 Common Problems & Solutions

Regression testing involves testing the entire application to assure that the new software features do not violate existing functionality. Regression testing is useful because it can help recognize faults early on, where the cost of fixing them is still minimal.

A regression testing approach is an effort a software tester puts to implement regression testing in order to assure that it is successful and valuable to the company.

Regression testing is useful, agreed, however, it does arrive with some problems, which are important for a QA to recognize and resolve. Let’s dive straight into them.

1. REGRESSION TESTING IS CONSIDERED TO BE OF NO USE & LESS VALUE

The Dilemma

Regression testing is not essentially helpful. “Why are we checking the same functionality we designed months or years ago?” questions the clueless management. Why not put your powers into innovative features that can produce in new revenue? QA teams find it hard to explain the time invested in regression testing, and as a consequence, they often ignore it in support of more ‘important’ testing tasks.

The Possible Solution

• Educate your staff and supervisors on the advantages of proper identification of glitches and other regressions from one release to the following– code consistency, developer success, manual tester time and energy, and acceptance assessments.
• Share custom situations with the staff and managers in which simple capabilities (such as a login) would stop to function, as well as the results for the company’s operations and brand.
• Share data on the return on investment in early defect identification. The cost of fixing a bug in development, for example, is 31X higher than fixing it while the app is still in creation, according to the Ixia slide table (check slide number 4).
• Try to collect some data from organizations providing software automation testing services (regression testing plus others), form a PowerPoint presentation – Your management will automatically be nodding heads on the value of regression testing. 

2. ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION

The Problem

Post every development stage, regression testing must be done. Regression tests will take a few days to weeks to complete if performed manually (or even semi-manually) with a complicated product. In a world where development sprints remain an average of two weeks, this can stifle growth. And if regression testing is fully automated, if it is not configured, it will slow down build times and become a hindrance in the agile feedback loop.

Steps That Will Help

• Automate all! If implemented correctly, it will significantly decrease the continuing costs of regression testing. Try test case management tools. 
• Prioritize tests and focus on parts of the program that are more exposed to bugs or change regularly.
• If your regression tests take 4 to 14 hours to perform after you’ve automated them, needing a regularly install and disrupting your continuous integration period, optimize them! Many tools and best practices can decrease production time from hours to minutes. Consider applying TIA (test impact analysis) to run only the suitable tests from your regression suite per build where the code has been altered.

3. REGRESSION TESTING IS NOT ”ATTRACTIVE”

The Issue

There’s no getting around it: regression testing involves repeatedly doing the same evaluations. This will discourage QA teams, leading them to fail, delay, or misrepresent tests across time.

The Solution To This Problem

• Regression tests can be automated to save time and effort.
• Rotate the team so that no one person is performing the same thing over and over.
• Educate testers on the significance of regression testing and its long-term significance to the consistency of their work.
• Perform the metrics for regression testing very clear to the staff and managers.
• Make payments! Compensate regression testers for being on track and assuring the tests perform probably with a bonus or prize.

4. SKY-HIGH COSTS

An Obvious Problem

Manual regression testing acquires a substantial manpower burden. To run regression simulations, organizations must ultimately pay one or two testers’ salaries. Except you are using open-source, which usually means higher implementation and setup costs, there is an initial cost of development, troubleshooting the regression test series, and tooling whether it’s automated.

Resolve This Issue By:

• You already understood this by now didn’t you? Automation! If you’re already manually managing tests, the first thing you can do is automate them.
• Using risk-based monitoring to prioritize tests and operate on the parts of the application that are the most exposed or repeating frequently. 
• Using quality intelligence tools or ask the production team what they concentrated on or updated in the last version. They will help you in parts of the code where regressions are most likely to happen.

5. VISIBILITY

The Conundrum

Often organizations cannot explicitly recognize their regression testing targets or the metrics that support them. Regression testing is done by testers, although it is unknown how well it is accomplished or what effect it has on the software’s security and consistency.

Improve Visibility By:

• Building objectives, priorities, and testing metrics.
• Making sure such metrics are associated to effects that matter to the organization, such as a reduction in manufacturing defects.
• Trying to estimate the importance of fixing bugs earlier in the process by adding a dollar sum to every actual bug identified by testers early in the process.

CONCLUSION – REGRESSION TESTING MATTERS LIKE A LOT

Your regression testing strategy isn’t self-contained. Other tests are being conducted, including UI automation, integration tests, and manual tests. In this context, what part does regression testing play? What role does regression testing play in decreasing the probability of production flaws?

You need to reply to these questions. And once you find the answer, you’ll either think about building an in-house functional testing department or outsource this job to a professional company rendering software automation testing services.

Need some guidance in performing regression testing? Choose to team up with a QA services provider like TestUnity. Our team of testing experts specializes in QA regression testing and have years of experience implementing tests with regression testing software. Partner with our QA engineers who can help your team in adopting regression testing best practices. Get in touch with a TestUnity expert today.

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