The Value of Software Testing in An Agile Environment
The creation of the agile software development lifecycle was meant for developers as opposed to the optimization of quality assurance. One of the key pieces of the development life cycle is software testing and a lot of people are trying to find ways it can be incorporated in the shift to agile teams. Although the proliferation techniques have come in handy in such instances, the changing roles contribute to the success of high-performing teams.
An agile team may be comprised of between a single QA engineer, scrum master, product owner, and three to five developers. The agile environment has brought about a shift in the pool of quality analyst and now the agile methodology is cross-functional in many organizations. The good thing about working in an agile environment is that it provides for more feedback. What’s more, the fact that there is an automation team means that a mini-waterfall can be created within the delivery squad.
Everyone Is Involved In Testing
As the team progresses to more cross-functional duties, everyone can undertake the testing but this is undertaken based on an individual’s skill set. The developer’s role is to undertake simple verifications as well as functional testing, and the ideal time to have this done is when they are close to the requirements. The QA engineers are more involved in value-added testing which focuses more on testing as opposed to the module development. In fact, their role becomes exploratory testing, integration, and edge case.
Technicalities In The Role Of QA
The more workload means that the QA engineers need to have a coding or technical background. A technical resource team is also important since they work closely with the development team. In addition, there will be a clear flow right from the unit service to integration and usability layer, and this is meant to get rid of any duplication efforts.
Also, it can be a costly tax on any team, especially when it comes to finding a functional bug in the usability or integration layer. This often happens long after the code was written and debugging such an issue might need more resources and time. Other than the testing tasks, scrum-on.com.au as a QA resource can help you when undertaking different development tasks such as the test harnesses.
The QA Voice
Just like the change in activity and role, there is also the mindset change. This means that the engineer should have a vision in the squad since the small squad size can amplify each of the individual member’s voice. Remember that this is usually a collaborative environment and sometimes the participants get overpowered, and it’s the role of the QA manager to facilitate such a voice.
The agile life cycle comes with a lot of advantages to code delivery because it provides more input for a quicker turnaround for business. Although it might have started as a trend, it’s not going to end anytime soon. The quality assurance team will also be required to adapt to the testing authority since the controlled testing doesn’t work anymore.