Significance of Regression Testing in the Agile Development

Regression testing in agile helps development teams focus on new functionality while maintaining stability with each new product increment. Teams use regression testing to ensure that tested software continues to function after every modification. Regression testing is the “stepchild” of agile testing, loved by some, but is required to enable the high velocity that agile teams strive to achieve.

Regression Testing in an Agile Context: Basic Concepts  

In agile, testing requires to develop with each sprint and testers must make sure that new changes do not modify the existing functionality of the application. This is known as regression testing.

Regression testing assures that the previous functionality of the application works effectively and new changes have not injected new bugs. Regression tests should be employed whether there is a small localized modification to the software or a larger change.

Teams must verify that new code does not clash with older code, and that code that has not been modified is still operating as expected.

In agile, there are various build cycles and continuous changes are appended to the application. This makes regression testing in agile crucial. For successful regression testing in agile, a testing team should develop the regression suite from the onset of product development. They should continue developing on it alongside development sprints.   

Regression Testing Methods

There are three ways to begin regression testing. The approach you choose will vary according to your conditions, the size of your codebase, the number of testers on your team, and your available resources.

• Re-test everything—includes rerunning all current tests on the new codebase. If the tests were well designed, this will separate regressions. However, this method is resource-intensive and may not be possible for a large codebase.
• Selective re-testing—it is sometimes possible to recognize a subset of your existing tests that can approach all or almost all of the “moving parts” of your codebase. It is then adequate to re-run that selective set to detect regressions across the codebase.
• Prioritized re-testing—utilized on large codebases. The priority tests discuss code paths, user actions, and areas of functionality assumed to contain bugs. Once these tests have run you can finish the remaining tests.

Significance of Regression Testing in Agile

Agile methodology revolves around fast and iterative methods with sprint cycles which are short and churn out features for every cycle. Specifically, the testing cycles should also be short to keep up the precise balance between the sprint development and the iterative testing cycles that accompany them.

Basically, agile development is fast and effective and developers churn features in quick times. It is important that the testing cycles should also go hand-in-hand to deploy the new characteristics after testing them.

In a true sense, development is performed on one feature and really the testing has to be done on all new and old characteristics that were developed earlier. It is a priority and needs that with every new build, regression testing has to be used up to ensure that the new addition or improvement in the code does not jeopardize the functionality of existing features.

Thus, regression testing has its own importance and this testing process ensures functionalities remain unaffected for each build. This regression testing process is significant for the product’s success as it assures all functionalities work in accordance with the given requirements in an agile environment.

Benefits with Regression Testing taken up in Agile Environments

• Helps to create a stable product as testing is taken up in sprints in an agile environment to verify whether the newly developed or existing functionalities are working as per the specifications
• Recognizes any functionality issues beginning in the product development life cycle and assures quicker resolution of these defects
• Automating regression testing in agile processes helps to decrease re-work and frees up the testers to be used for other significant testing activities
• Effective regression testing embedded in agile practice helps to enhance the overall quality of the product along with assuring a great user experience

Moreover, in agile scenarios with iterative developments, there are more frequent build cycles and continuous changes are appended to the application. Therefore, in order to test these frequent modifications, software regression testing should be practiced in agile practices.

Thus, for prosperous regression testing in agile, the QA teams should follow best regression testing practices and create an effective regression testing suite from the onset of software product development to assure all functionalities work effectively.

Regression Testing challenges encountered by agile team

1. Too many changes:

During the software development process, there will be situations where the management and customers will ask for changes in line with specifications. These changes can prove to be unstable, due to which the performance of the test automation strategy can be dampened.

2. Time-consuming:

Testing large applications use a lot of time. To create and maintain a regression test suite needs a lot of time too.

3. Unable to manage regression tests:

With each sprint, the scale of regression tests enhances. In the case of large projects, it is really difficult to conduct regression tests. In order to manage regression tests properly, testing teams should automate and analyze tests on a continual basis. Ineffective tests must also be eliminated in the process.

4. Poor communication:

There should be an efficient communication channel and proper strategic communication taking place between the testing team, business analysts, developers, and business stakeholders. This will assure that the regression testing process is streamlined. Through efficient communication, specific features that have to undergo regression testing can be accurately ascertained.

5. Maintenance is a time-consuming process:

It takes quite a bit of time to manage and update the regression testing suite. Time is consumed when new test cases are added or the existing ones are updated.

Conclusion

Today’s businesses require quality software that is bound to deliver a great customer experience and at the same time, they require shorter release cycles. Therefore, it is necessary to assure high-quality products that efficiently meet the customer expectations which is accomplished by leveraging software testing right from the stage of product development. Adopting effective regression testing in agile and DevOps methods assures to delivery of quality products to the market on time as all characteristics are tested end-to-end to assure a quality product.

Also Read: Everything You Need To Know About Automated Regression Testing

TestUnity’s cost-effective regression testing model encourages QA teams to deliver a reasonable balance between test selection and error detection. Leverage our next-gen regression testing services to assure quality products as regression test automation by our test automation experts assures to save time, effort and also assures significant cost reduction. Talk to our experts today.

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