Regression Testing in Agile - How to Do It

Key Takeaways:

1. Importance of Regression Testing: Essential for ensuring safe and error-free software development in Agile environments.
2. Impact on Development Process: Plays a crucial role in maintaining software quality throughout the development lifecycle.
3. Types of Regression Tests: Various types exist to help tailor the testing approach to specific frameworks.
4. Challenges and Best Practices: Addresses common challenges and provides best practices to improve your testing strategy.

The frequent changes and rapid development highlight the importance of regression testing in Agile. The Agile framework emphasizes continuous integration and updates, meaning teams constantly add new features, fixes, and enhancements. 

On the other hand, regression testing is all about verifying that the new changes in the code base are not affecting the performance and functionality of the software. In agile, changes are inevitable. Therefore, regression testing is required. The short sprint and the rapid development cycle warrant testing to quickly identify issues before the start of the new cycle. 

By helping you catch issues early, regression testing in agile ensures that the quality of the software is not being compromised. Read this blog to the end if you want to learn more about regression testing in Agile.

What is the role of regression testing in agile?

Regression testing in Agile helps you protect your existing software functionalities from the negative effects of the new changes in the code. During this process, the testers will check if the code base meets all the requirement criteria and expected functionality. 

Regression testing in Agile aims to ensure that no new bugs are introduced into the system while maintaining existing functionality. Regression testing in agile requires constant repetition, every cycle needs to be included in the testing processes. In agile, the team focuses on the functionality planned for each sprint. 

But when they are attending to one particular area, they cannot be accountable for the risks their changes might pose to the entire system. So, to avoid these risks from the start, regression testing is required.

A regression test will show the area affected by the team's recent changes so you can deal with them immediately. Overall regression testing in Agile can be divided into three types; the next section will further look into this, so keep reading.

Common types of regression testing in agile

While defining regression testing in agile environment it's crucial to decide which type of regression testing method is the most suitable for your project. The decision you make can directly affect the creation of the test suite. Therefore you need to be very careful when making in decision.

Following are some of the most common regression testing types:

• Complete regression testing: Testers execute this on the entire suite of regression test cases to ensure comprehensive coverage.
• Partial regression testing: Testers execute this on a subset of test cases focused on areas impacted by recent changes.
• Selective regression testing: In this, you can choose and run specific test cases selected based on the risk analysis and impact.

What you should also not forget is that crafting robust regression testing in Agile requires the blending of various options to suit the specific context. Moving on, let’s try to understand the significance of regression testing in Agile.

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Significance of regression testing in Agile process

Why bother with regression testing in Agile? This is a question that is bound to come to your mind. The reason we require regression testing in agile is to keep up the software’s quality without slowing down its pace. 

Agile thrives on speed and adaptability. However, this quality can sometimes lead to errors, which can only be dealt with regression testing. Following are a few more reasons that will prove the significance of regression testing in agile environment.

• Quality control: As new features are added, regression tests act as a critical checkpoint to ensure these features do not disrupt the existing functionality of the software. So, by implementing regression testing in agile, you can maintain a stable and reliable foundation upon which the software can be built and evolve.
• Speed and stability: With the constant release of new features, it becomes easy for software to trip over existing functionality. Regression testing acts like a safety net catching these potential falls. Additionally, it also allows the team to maintain a brisk pace without the fear of regression bugs.
• Boost confidence: Knowing that the changes in features won’t disrupt the services inspires confidence in the stakeholders and developers. This allows them to be more innovative and bold, pushing the software to new heights.
• User satisfaction: Regression testing in Agile ensures that each updates improve the software without adding new problems. Thus leading to better customer satisfaction.

Remember, timing is also a very important factor when it comes to regression testing in agile. Therefore, the next section will explore the optimal timing for conducting regression testing to achieve the best results.

When to regression test in agile?

Deciding when to conduct regression tests in Agile can be a critical step. Too much or too little can cause huge problems, so the main key here is to maintain regularity. In agile, changes happen fast, so regression testing should also be frequent to catch any issues early. 

Ideally, you should run a regression test after every significant change or at least at the end of every sprint. This will ensure no new problem has been introduced into the software. Automated regression testing is a continuous process, and its frequency is determined by the specific methodologies and practices adopted by a particular agile team. 

However, the ultimate goal of regression testing in agile is to detect and address regression as early as possible to preserve the reliability of the software.

Following are some typical scenarios that warranty regression testing in Agile:

• After committing new code
• Initiation and conclusion of each sprint
• Before the production deployment
• Following critical bug fixed and emergency patch releases
• After a substantial code refactoring or platform update.

So, when it comes to deciding the right time for regression testing in Agile, we would say it’s all about maintaining a healthy balance. With the correct time, your software will grow stronger and more resilient with each change. 

However, this does not mean you will not face any challenges while implementing regression testing in Agile. The next section will delve deeper into this, so keep reading.

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Regression testing challenges

Agile regression testing is not so easy, it has its own sets of challenges you need to overcome before you can achieve your desired results. Following is a list of common regression testing challenges you may have to mitigate:

Frequent changes

Frequent changes in agile are normal things, this is because the agile methods incorporate stakeholder feedback after every sprint to ensure the development processes in going in the right direction. 

However, constant changes in the software can pose a bigger risk with too many changes brought forth by the management and the users. This can lead to reworking the regression test scripts from scratch in the middle of a project, leading to further delays.

Expanding test suites

The scale of regression testing in Agile increases with every sprint because new features are added. So, with sufficient automation and team structure, the test suites can quickly become unwieldy and unmanageable.

Test case maintenance

Expanding test suites also need to be maintained, examined, and updated frequently. Further, you would need to remove the obsolete test cases and add new ones; overall, regression testing in Agile can be tedious if the project requires too many sprints.

Communication requirements

Communication is an important part of the development and testing processes. Testers must maintain constant contact with developers and other stakeholders. In addition, they also need to be familiar with the features that are being built and the user’s expectations from it. For a small team, this could be too much to achieve and maintain on their own.

High skills demand

Automation is necessary for regression testing in Agile. Therefore, you would require testers with ample knowledge of test automation frameworks like Appium, Selenium, and multiple programming languages. 

Further, they should also have experience in running tests in different environments. So, for a team that is just starting with agile development, this could pose financial and time-related challenges.

Choosing the right strategy is the key to succeeding in regression testing in Agile. Therefore, the next section will guide you on how to choose the best regression testing strategy in Agile.

How to choose an agile regression testing strategy?

Determining the right regression testing strategy is crucial for your development processes. Therefore here are five considerations you need to make while choosing a strategy for regression testing in Agile.

• Understand project requirements: Firstly, you need to identify the critical functionalities and the areas that are prone to frequent changes. Then, you would also need to determine the scope and goals of the project to understand your software needs.
• Assess application characteristics: Secondly, you need to understand the complexity of your application and its critical paths. Additionally, you should also focus on identifying high-risk areas and components that are prone to regression.
• Evaluate team size: Thirdly, you will need to assess the team’s expertise in manual testing, automation testing, and other methodologies. Further, you should also consider what available tools and resources you have in hand for regression testing in Agile.
• Analyze risks and impact: In this step, you should focus on identifying potential risks associated with the changes. Moreover, you also need to understand the impact each regression will have on the user experience and system stability. Prioritizing testing features based on the severity of risks will help you reduce the likelihood of critical issues.
• Prioritize and plan test coverage: Lastly, you should prioritize test cases based on their criticality and the frequency of use.

Moving on, the next section will provide useful tips to make regression testing in Agile more effective and efficient.

Best practices for regression testing in Agile environment

First and foremost, the agile team must include the test from the beginning of each sprint so they can construct tests and keep updating them right from the initial stage. Following are a few more beat practices you can use while conducting regression testing in Agile:

Opt for automation

To speed up the regression testing for agile sprints automation is necessary. Therefore, start with an automated regression test script and then make modifications as new features are added. 

This way, the QAs will only have to focus on making incremental changes with every sprint and not waste their time running the tests themselves. However do remember that the testers may have to make some manual test efforts in the beginning to study the product slow, software logic, and UI changes. 

Therefore, introduce automation once the software has reached a certain level of development and major changes are in place. Since regression test suites must be updated after each change, revise them after every sprint to remove obsolete test cases and include relevant ones.

Don’t aim for 100% automation

Regardless of how refined your test infrastructure is, absolute 100% automation is not possible. At the very least, you will have to write the test scripts and verify the results. So, the best case scenario is 70 to 90% automation. This is because there is a high chance that a certain number of test cases will result in false positives/negatives.

Focus on the most vulnerable software areas

Your development teams and testers should know the software enough to be able to zero down on the areas/features/functions that are the most prone to being affected by the changes. Additionally, the user-facing interface and the integral backend issues should also be verified with regular regression testing in Agile.

To overcome the challenges of regression testing in agile and to leverage best practices, you will need someone with plenty of experience. AppSierra testing services may be able to help you, so keep reading.

Why Choose AppSierra’s regression testing services?

As we have mentioned before, regression testing in Agile requires a lot of expertise and experience. AppSierra’s development and testing services can help you implement regression testing in Agile to boost the effectiveness of your software development cycle. 

Our team, skilled in regression testing and Agile frameworks, will collaborate closely with you to achieve your desired outcomes. Our services provide thorough regression testing to help you identify and fix issues quickly, allowing your software to continue operating as expected after every sprint. Following is a list of regression testing services we provide:

• Software regression testing: AppSierra’s experts can carry out software lever regression testing in Agile to confirm that recent changes in the code have not affected the performance of the software adversely.
• System integration regression testing: We can conduct regression testing for system integration to ensure your it continues to operate smoothly.
• Functional regression testing: Our team will also focus on the functional aspects of your software. By regression testing in agile, we can help you ensure that the new changes have not led to any functional flaws.
• Automated regression testing: We have experts with years of experience in regression testing automation. Our testers will leverage advanced automation tools to conduct efficient and consistent regression testing in Agile to save your time and effort from manual testing.
• End-to-end regression testing: AppSierra’s testing team can provide you with comprehensive end-to-end testing to make sure every component of your software works together seamlessly, even after modification and updates.

Conclusion

Agile moves quickly, and regression testing is one of the best ways to ensure your software continues to function optimally. By incorporating regression testing in Agile, your software can evolve without sacrificing stability or quality. Additionally, implementing regression testing from the outset helps avoid critical risks and issues that could otherwise seriously impact your software.