Every year technology is advancing to highlight better prospects for the future. The need for software development and testing has entered an innovative arena where the role of new technologies is vital. For instance, in 2020 various software development companies have shifted their focus towards the agility aspect to align better testing approaches backed by agile principles.
The contribution of Continuous Testing, DevOps, and other factors are expected to uplift agile testing soon. Here are seven crucial agile testing trends expected to impact enterprises wishing for quality software testing in 2021.
Shift-Left Approach
The shift-left process’s exact meaning is to highlight different types of testing that are conducted parallel to software development. In simple terms, testers combine their efforts with developers to frame test cases. This also includes the incorporation of what-if scenarios. Such tests are later used to streamline development.
According to the usual software development approach, the inclusion of testing is viewed as a blockage to the release process. Testers operate on less time due to compressed schedules, thereby hampering testing efforts and spot errors. However, when testing is shifted left, testers acquire an ample amount of time to test the software’s usability by conveniently teaming up with UI & API developers.
The prime advantages of the Shift-Left Approach are:
- Reduced time-to-market for early release
- Quick identification of bottlenecks to avoid software failures
- Deliver high performing software under minimalistic time
Quality Engineering
The dependency on quality engineering is more when you manage testing activities in an agile environment. What is different in quality engineering when compared to quality assurance? Quality engineering deploys continuous testing of the concerned product with the deep involvement of automation. It is ensured that the product is placed under effective testing with the purpose to make it error-free.
The prime advantages of quality engineering are:
- Deliver quick feedback on the software product since continuous testing is performed covering diverse platforms and operating systems
- Reduced software failures and availability of early feedback
Agile Test Management
If you ask any of the software testing services, they would confirm the presence of a strong alliance between testers and developers. Such collaboration aims to include how the testing is structured, executed and reported once the results are out.
The inclusion of the Agile test management helps define the processes and tools that permit the overall team to maintain testing progress. Such an arrangement brings together everyone on the same path. For professionals working in distributed environments, a cloud-based test management tool’s availability confirms simplified access to testing information anytime and anywhere.
The prime advantages of agile test management are:
- Enable team members to trace testing efforts and enhance collaboration
- reduce the presence of bugs and speeds up the release of high-quality software
- Trims down feedback latency present between testers and developers; ensuring real-time feedback
Continuous Testing
The process of Continuous Testing involves repeatedly executing tests that deploy testers into cross-functional teams. This arrangement is helpful in testing functionalities and delivers quick feedback. Continuous testing supports early testing with the incorporation of shift-left, agile test management, and quality engineering.
The prime advantages of continuous testing are:
- Alleviates software failure concerns by early detection
- Improves software quality via ongoing reviews and reports
- Optimize test suites to highlight business risks
Lean Portfolio Management
Lean portfolio management abides a different approach focused on aligning efforts to measure results based on organizational objectives and planning. It primarily follows a continuous process used to allocate work within teams based on feature priority placed within a broader and well-connected strategy.
As per Lean portfolio management, the main emphasis is on the collaboration running from top to bottom, covering factors associated with goal measurement, planning, and work transparency.
The prime advantages of lean portfolio management are:
- Improves alliance between organizational strategy and individual projects
- Refines business value to evolve clarity about the software ready for release
DevOps Approach
The concept of DevOps is solely based on lean management. It focuses on merging development and operations to create a practical environment. A DevOps approach seeks to filter out the software development lifecycle to remove waste and speed up software delivery. It is observed that the combination of Agile and DevOps can refine team communication and relationship, thereby reducing software failures. Furthermore, DevOps readily amalgamates continuous testing into the development process to ensure code quality.
The prime advantages of DevOps are:
- Establishes the right collaborative culture
- Integrates coding and testing processes by ensuring the testing of each code change
- Integrates operations within the team with a purpose to lessen downstream testing concerns
Agile Supported by AI & ML
The effective usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning to support agile methods creates a dominant way of data analysis. Such collaboration enables software teams to find better productivity linked to testers and developers. AI & ML together provide real-time information and even offer a clear prediction as to when the project will enter the release phase. The incorporation of futuristic technologies like robotics, IoT, quantum computing, etc, is very much possible with the effective operations of AI & ML in the software development process.
The prime advantages of Agile supported by AI & ML are:
- Delivers precise insights on better approaches for creating testing code
- Assessment of code and associated tests to eliminate bugs
- Incorporation of innovative technologies for augmenting software development & time-to-market
Honestly, the role of Agile Testing in today’s embryonic & progressive testing environment cannot be ignored. Therefore, matching pace with crucial technological upgrades for enhancing agile testing has become a major goal for most software testing companies. You can get in touch with a renowned software testing service provider to gain better insights about agile testing approaches and their implementations.
