5 Benefits of Software Testing in an Agile Environment

5 Benefits of Software Testing in an Agile Environment

In today’s fast-growing world of the Internet, customers demand faster implementation and update on their software products. Software companies are working in parallel on their products or applications to fix bugs in released versions and release new versions with new features. In order to cope with the pace of disruptive trends to cater to both old and new versions of applications, many companies are adopting software testing in an agile environment.

In a traditional software testing approach, the disconnect between developers and the testers arises due to poor requirement definition, lack of communication and end-user involvement, unrealistic schedules, incorrect test strategies, and inflexible processes which ultimately take a lot of effort in managing changes in the process. However, software testing done in an agile environment is more focused, faster, saves time, streamlines the software development process and reduces the overall cost of bug fixing in the initial stages of development. Software testing within an agile environment has a significant role to play as it strengthens the output of the whole process and reduces time to market with better product quality to the end-user.

Here are 5 benefits of software testing done in an agile environment that you would like to know:

1) Greater collaboration: When the team of developers, architects, testers, and coders work closely with more face to face communication throughout the entire lifecycle bypassing documentation processes such as back and forth of emails and papers, faster and quicker test results are achieved.

2) Faster time to market with quick releases: The incremental and iterative models minimize the overall time between specifying test requirements and validating results. This ensures that the project release cycles are on time without any delay.

3) Cost-efficiency: Centralizing software testing tools and resources for the process of software testing in an agile environment improves resource utilization and further reduces the cost incurred in software procurement, set-up, and maintenance. This drives more focus on the overall quality of the product. The process of bug fixing in each and every stage of development helps in reducing the overall cost of the project and ensure timely release of the product or application.

4) Tighter alignment: One of the key characteristics of agile is fixing defects instantly, which is possible because the teams of testers and developers work in a close-knit environment that enables them to share immediate feedback, which further facilitates fixing of bugs and errors while the code is still fresh.

5) Improved quality: Agile testing clearly provides identifiable results in shorter cycles and provides visibility on the level of project quality. This helps the team to take corrective measures at the right time to enhance the product quality. It also prevents an application or product from developing severe defects and helps companies to optimize application quality and performance.

Conclusion

Software testing in an agile environment continues to evolve as a different way of software development as compared to the traditional approach. Statistics from Gartner and Forrester show that 60-80% of development teams are now using the Agile methodology as their primary method for creating software. Testing is easier to implement in an agile environment as compared to the traditional one. The role of testers is also evolving to match the flexibilities of this environment.