How Is Testing Manifesto Leading to a Major Development Transformation?

Down below I would like to mention the four main values of the Agile Manifesto and find out how they can bring agility to teams’ test efforts.

Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools

If you have been in the field of development for years then I am sure you must be well aware regarding the fact that agile as a development process values the team members and their interactions way more than elaborating processes and tools. Agile testing is a continuous interaction and communication happening with the rest the team throughout the software lifecycle. Right from gaining requirements to design, development of the project, agile testers are involved everywhere and have constant interaction with the entire team. This means, testers in general act as co-owners of the user stories whose inputs help in building quality into the product instead of checking for quality in the end.

Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation

Here the manifesto states about the importance of having functioning software over exhaustively thorough documents for the project. Henceforth, most of the software testing service providers across the globe have started spending more time actually testing the system and finding new ways to exercise it, rather than documenting test cases in a detailed fashion. Right from one-liner scenarios, exploratory testing sessions, risk-based testing, or error checklists instead of test cases to cover testing, different test teams will use different techniques to achieve a balance between testing and documentation. Just be thorough with requirements, designs, or testing-related documents.

Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

Agile values the customer’s needs and constant communication with them for complete transparency, instead of hiding behind contract clauses to deliver whats best for them. The testing is all about looking out for the customer’s needs and wishes at all points of delivery. What is delivered in a single user story or in a single sprint to an internal release passes under the scrutiny of a tester acting as the advocate for the customer?

Now as there is no detailed document for each requirement, professionals are compelled to question everything which is based on their perception of what needs to be.

Responding to Change over Following a Plan

Agile welcomes change, yes the entire purpose of this methodology is to be flexible and able to incorporate change. So, unlike the traditional software development approaches that are resistant to change, agile has to respond to change and teams are expected to accept the situation and replan their plans. As a result, agile testing faces a burden of continuous regression overload and topped with frequent changes to requirements, rework may double itself, leading to testing and retesting the same functionalities over and over again. By following approaches like implementing thorough white-box testing, continuously automating tested features, having acceptance test suites in place, testing teams can handle such situations with ease.

Wrapping it up

Keep it in mind when designing and implementing test efforts; the Agile Manifesto’s values will guide you to the best choice for your team and your customers.

Testing in Agile is not a different technique, rather it’s a change in the mindset, and change does not happen overnight. It requires knowledge, skill and proper mentoring.