{"id":734,"date":"2021-07-01T17:17:44","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T14:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/?p=734"},"modified":"2022-01-21T20:24:34","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T17:24:34","slug":"agile-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/agile\/software-development\/agile-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Agile QA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If a company strives to move to Agile, its members will very soon begin to discuss the components of frequent and iterative deployments. What is QA\u2019s role in\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/agile\/software-development\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Agile software development<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">? The truth is that the new Agile world will definitely need QA professionals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The main idea is that instead of the old paradigm, where your goal involves determining defects at the end of a lengthy traditional project, you will continuously prevent defects and help to ship products faster. And by guiding Agile principles, you will be able to create a powerful and healthy QA process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21300\" src=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/52.png\" alt=\"Agile QA\" width=\"1500\" height=\"900\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a look a little closer at what going Agile means from a QA perspective and how you can succeed in this environment.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is Quality Assurance in Agile?<\/h2>\n<p>Quality Assurance (QA) is a process of defining whether a product meets specified requirements or not. How does Agile support it?<\/p>\n<p>You may say that Agile ways of working and meeting requirements seem at odds. However, the set of Agile methods and practices where solutions evolve through collaboration between cross-functional self-organizing teams may be considered a perfect choice. The combination of Quality Assurance and Agile provides a framework for building high-quality and well-rounded products.<\/p>\n<p>Having a strong and flexible QA plan will help to ensure you\u2019re delivering the right product in a proper and cost-effective way.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the role of QA in the Agile environment?<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Digital business initiatives that demand the quick delivery of solutions contribute to the growth of top-down strategic adoption of Agile.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to Agile, both developers and testers have to work together, and their roles can be interchangeable. Therefore, it is important that the requirements are frozen, and the team is well informed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Testing will start from the time when\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/agile\/project-management\/user-stories\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">user stories<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0get written.\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/agile\/software-development\/agile-developer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Agile developers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and testers will need to have a clear understanding of the expected scope of work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By nature, Agile development is more experimental and exploratory. Over time, the roles and the scope of the project can evolve. The QA team should sync effectively within the development cycle to deliver the app with tested codes during the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/agile\/software-development\/code-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">code review<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. The role of QA in Agile may include both testing and development components. The idea is that both testers and developers must actively engage to deliver the code and complete the project as per the client\u2019s brief.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">QA can address issues and bugs within an app during the development cycles. They can also assist the development team in addressing the issues with functionality, performance, and security. So, developers can move ahead without dealing relentlessly with pending issues or rework.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Agile practices provide teams with the required ownership while operating on projects. However, Agile Quality Assurance enables teams to bring stability and relevance while churning codes and deciphering client briefs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>How QA in Agile differs from traditional QA<\/h3>\n<p>Agile has two principles that muddy the waters around testing:<\/p>\n<h4>1. Cross-functional and self-organizing teams.<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Everyone should be able to help deliver any story.<\/li>\n<li>Everyone should be responsible for ensuring high-quality deliverables.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>2. Iterative development \u2013 every sprint\u2019s deliverable is a potential release candidate.<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>You must conduct testing throughout the entire development lifecycle.<\/li>\n<li>You must keep the balance between testing new functionality and system regression testing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Role of QA in Waterfall and Agile<\/h2>\n<p>Here we can define some important differences between QA in the Waterfall environment and QA in Agile.<\/p>\n<h3>Waterfall QA process:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Black-box testing and no need for deep knowledge of the internal app work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The key function is to certify the quality of the product.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Work in branches at the end of milestones.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There is no need for automated testing. Only some UI automated testing is performed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A team is completely separate from development.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Not much interaction with the business.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Agile QA process:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Black-box and white-box testing and deep knowledge of internal work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The key function is to help produce great applications.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Work in parallel with development.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Based mainly on automated testing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There is only one team. Integrated with the development team.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Interaction with the business.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21301\" src=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/05be20f238d6e378e09bb30aeda32458-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Agile QA best practicies\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1536\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Agile QA Process Best Practices<\/h2>\n<p>Quality is everything. It must be in mind not only in software development. QA as a systematic process ensures product excellence.<\/p>\n<p>An effective QA team studies the requirements to design, develop, and produce reliable products thereby accelerating client confidence, company credibility, and the ability to flourish in a competitive environment.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some essential practice tips for the Agile QA process:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Defining an Agile Quality Assurance process<\/h3>\n<p>More and more companies are shifting from traditional development to an Agile process. According to Agile testing, QA is introduced into the <a href=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/agile\/project-management\/project-plan\/\">project plan<\/a> as early as possible. Thanks to the division of the project into iterative stages, QA engineers may pay more attention to the development process and provide continuous feedback.<\/p>\n<p>The QA team can use lessons learned from previous projects to improve future projects&#8217; processes.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Risk analysis<\/h3>\n<p>This is a significant aspect of any QA process. Risk analysis is the process of determining and assessing risks and their impact. It helps teams to avoid and mitigate risks.<\/p>\n<p>The QA team should be able to remove or prevent the most problematic bugs. Understanding the possible project outcomes allows teams to establish preventive measures that reduce the probability of occurrence.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Early and frequent tests<\/h3>\n<p>Agile is about incorporating QA at every stage of the project\u2019s life cycle in order to identify issues as early as possible. QA engineers test and retest the product with each new feature added within each sprint. It allows them to be sure that the new features were implemented as expected and whether new problems appeared.<\/p>\n<h3>4. White and black boxes<\/h3>\n<p>The black-box testing does not require knowledge of how a system does what it does. The white-box testing enables testers to deeply understand the system\u2019s internals. Having this knowledge, QA engineers can begin testing much earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Agile QA engineers need this extra level of system understanding to check features as soon as they are developed. White-box testing allows them to predict error conditions and develop better test scenarios.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Automating when possible<\/h3>\n<p>Automation is what helps to boost the effectiveness of QA people. It provides a way to ensure previous deliverables continue to work while Quality Assurance engineers focus on testing new features.<\/p>\n<p>Automation allows developers to make changes to the system with the knowledge that issues will be identified quickly, and they can be fixed before delivery to the QA department. Of course, implementing automation costs a lot, but it saves money in the long run by increasing efficiency between developers and QA teams.<\/p>\n<h3>6. Knowing your audience<\/h3>\n<p>When you know and understand your target audience, you have many chances to improve the QA process. Adapting the development and QA process around the customers&#8217; needs will enable your team to create value-driving solutions.<\/p>\n<h3>7. The role of teamwork in dream work<\/h3>\n<p>Every high-quality product is made by professionals that work to maintain the high standard of quality upheld by the company.<\/p>\n<p>Each team working on the project takes responsibility for ensuring quality, and the QA team has the primary responsibility for this aspect. All the people involved in testing understand what customers need and can prove their satisfaction with the system. The Agile QA process helps engineers to be the super-sleuths who determine problems and help the team to deliver high-quality products and ensure client confidence.<\/p>\n<h3>Where do Quality Assurance team members fit in?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Testing itself<\/li>\n<li>Requirements generation<\/li>\n<li>Planning<\/li>\n<li>Estimations<\/li>\n<li>Day-to-day sprint execution<\/li>\n<li>Defining \u201cdone\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Documentation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Parallel QA approach<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Quality Assurance should take place in parallel with development.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It allows testing stories as they are completed during the sprint.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It prevents the overload of the QA team at the end of the sprint.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It decreases the risk of surprises.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Sometimes QA may not be completed by the end of the sprint. In this case, QA for stories completed near the end of a sprint can go on during the next sprint. You just should accommodate it, as this is not an unusual case.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Conclusion<\/h4>\n<p>In Agile teams, every team member is responsible for quality. This can actually be your time to shine by sharing your expertise with your colleagues. Do not hesitate to work with your entire team to build quality into the development process. The goal no longer involves just finding defects and bugs but preventing them during the development cycle.<\/p>\n<p>With the help of the Agile philosophy, you will get the ways to break that problem down and work towards the final goal iteratively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If a company strives to move to Agile, its members will very soon begin to discuss the components of frequent and iterative deployments. What is QA\u2019s role in\u00a0Agile software development? The truth is that the new Agile world will definitely need QA professionals.\u00a0 The main idea is that instead of the old paradigm, where your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"class_list":["post-734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software-development"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is Quality Assurance in the Agile environment?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hygger.io\/guides\/agile\/software-development\/agile-qa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Agile QA? 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