16 July 2024 Leave a comment QA
As a QA professional working within an Agile/Scrum development team, managing regression testing can be challenging. Effective regression testing is crucial for ensuring the stability and reliability of your application after new changes. This article provides a comprehensive guide on fitting regression tests into your Agile/Scrum development cycle.
Understanding Regression Testing in Agile
Regression testing involves re-running functional and non-functional tests to ensure that previously developed and tested software still performs correctly after changes. In Agile/Scrum, where development cycles are iterative and changes are frequent, regression testing becomes even more critical.
Best Practices for Regression Testing in Agile
Based on industry insights and practical experiences, here are some best practices for effectively integrating regression testing into your Agile workflow:
1. Continuous Automation
Automating regression tests is essential for maintaining efficiency and coverage. As new features are developed, automated tests should be created for the core functionalities (often referred to as the “steel thread”) and any bug fixes. This approach ensures that the most critical and fragile areas of the application are continuously tested throughout the development process.
2. Incremental Automation
Start automating tests as soon as the features are delivered. This incremental approach helps in building a robust automated regression suite over time, reducing the manual testing burden and increasing test coverage.
3. Prioritizing Test Coverage
Not all areas of your application require equal attention. Focus on automating tests for high-risk areas, frequently used functionalities, and critical paths. Prioritize regression tests based on the likelihood of use and potential impact of failures.
4. Integrating with CI/CD Pipelines
Ensure that your regression tests are integrated into your Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. Running these tests as part of your CI/CD process helps catch regressions early and maintain a stable codebase.
5. Risk-Based Testing
Complement automated regression tests with risk-based manual testing. Analyze the areas most likely to be impacted by recent changes and focus manual testing efforts on these areas. This strategy balances the thoroughness of regression testing with the efficiency of automation.
Implementing Regression Testing: Practical Steps
Here are practical steps to implement the best practices mentioned above:
- Develop Automated Tests: Create automated tests for new features and bug fixes during the sprint. Ensure these tests cover critical paths and high-risk areas.
- Run Tests Regularly: Schedule regular runs of your automated regression suite, ideally as part of your nightly builds within your CI/CD pipeline.
- Manual Testing: Conduct manual exploratory testing for high-risk areas identified through risk analysis. Use manual tests to guide exploratory testing sessions.
- Hardening Sprints: If possible, allocate a dedicated sprint for regression testing and stabilization before major releases. This “hardening” sprint can help catch any lingering issues.
- Review and Update: Continuously review and update your regression tests to include new functionalities and address any new risks identified during development.
Enhancing Regression Testing with Repeato
For teams looking to streamline their regression testing efforts, Repeato offers a powerful no-code test automation tool for iOS and Android applications. Repeato leverages computer vision and AI to create, run, and maintain automated tests quickly and efficiently. Its user-friendly interface and robust capabilities make it an excellent choice for integrating automated regression testing into your Agile/Scrum workflows.
To learn more about how Repeato can help enhance your regression testing practices, visit our documentation or explore our blog for additional insights and best practices.
