What is Localization Testing Explained With Best Practices

What is Localization Testing? Explained With Best Practices

Companies that can respond quickly to customer needs have an advantage as the digital landscape rapidly changes. Agile emerged as more relevant for an effective business model in the rapidly evolving technology ecosystem than waterfall, which was proven to be cumbersome and slow. Companies adopted agile transformations&nbsp;



across all organizational functions as soon as they realized the value of being agile.&nbsp;



Two of the most widely used approaches in modern software development are agile and DevOps. While they share some similarities, they are also quite distinct in their approaches and objectives. Agile is an approach that stresses iterative and incremental development, with a focus on delivering customer value through frequent releases of working software. The DevOps methodology, on the other hand, focuses on collaboration, automation, and continuous delivery and deployment.&nbsp;



Let’s revisit the fundamentals of Agile and DevOps.&nbsp;



Agile was introduced in 2001 by a group of software practitioners with the aim to develop software better. An agile alliance was formed setting up a few values and principles:



— Iterative development,&nbsp;



— Customer collaboration, and&nbsp;



— Continuous improvement.&nbsp;



The Agile methodology focuses on breaking down a project into small, manageable pieces called iterations or sprints. Each iteration typically lasts from one to four weeks and involves a cross-functional team of developers, designers, testers, and stakeholders who work together to deliver a potentially shippable product increment at the end of each iteration. The goal is to get feedback from customers as early and as often as possible so that the team can make necessary changes and



improvements to the product. Agile teams typically work in small, cross-functional teams that are self-organizing and empowered to make decisions. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Agile.jpg" alt="Testsigma - DevOps for Agile Teams" class="wp-image-28784" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>



DevOps on the other hand is a software development approach that stresses cooperation, communication, and integration between development and operations teams to produce software products and services rapidly and efficiently. The phrase &#8220;DevOps&#8221; is a mix of &#8220;development&#8221; and &#8220;operations.” To speed up the software development process and shorten the time it takes to release new features or upgrades to the market, DevOps promotes the use of automation and continuous delivery techniques. By automating the testing, deployment, and monitoring processes, DevOps teams can detect and resolve issues quickly, enabling for faster releases and more frequent upgrades.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/DevOps.jpg" alt="Testsigma - DevOps for Agile Teams" class="wp-image-28787" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>



While agile places a strong emphasis on short iterations, ongoing feedback, and



frequent early value delivery, it places less attention on how to achieve these goals



operationally and improve efficiency even beyond the production release. DevOps



addresses these issues by placing an emphasis on collaboration, automation, and



application monitoring long after it has been released for use in production. One of



the fundamental tenets of DevOps from its conception has been the use of



automation to increase velocity. It is crucial for enhancing developer &amp; test engineer productivity, streamlining the value chain, setting up infrastructure, ensuring security, testing software, and other processes.



 The sole focus of TestOps, a subset of DevOps, is test automation operations. For



current methods of software development, TestOps is imperative. An application&#8217;s



overall test and maintenance benefit greatly from the use of tools like Testsigma. Its versatility makes it a standout automation solution that works well with all build tools.



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The question then becomes: Should agile teams adopt DevOps? The response is obviously &#8220;Yes!&#8221;. Deployment and maintenance will always be behind if operations are kept outside the application development cycle. Organizations eventually suffer the same challenge as a waterfall, which is that it is sluggish and heavy.&nbsp;



Here are some of the reasons why organizations still struggle to successfully harness the benefits of DevOps and Agile&nbsp;



1. Agile and DevOps have various cultural foundations and ideals. Whereas DevOps stresses automation and standardization, Agile places a greater emphasis on collaboration and flexibility. It can be tough to reconcile these two cultures, and team members may have different expectations and attitudes to work.



2. Cross-functional teams that operate together seamlessly are necessary for Agile and DevOps. Teams are still often segregated in organizations, and cross functional collaboration may encounter opposition.&nbsp;



3. Continuous delivery and deployment are made possible by DevOps, which mainly relies on automation and tooling. Yet, Agile may not have the same amount of focus on automation and tooling. It can be difficult to integrate DevOps tooling and automation into an Agile process, especially if the current tools and methods are incompatible.&nbsp;



4. The software development process can get very complex when using Agile and DevOps, especially when several teams are involved. Planning ahead, communicating, and working together is essential for managing this complexity.&nbsp;



5. Continuous improvement is emphasized by both Agile and DevOps, however, they could take various approaches to it. DevOps may prioritize monitoring and feedback loops to detect and fix issues rapidly, whereas Agile may focus on retrospectives to find areas for improvement. It might be difficult to strike a balance between the two methods and make sure that both are incorporated into the process.&nbsp;



Downsides of not including DevOps in agile teams&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="450" height="236" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-61.png" alt="Testsigma - DevOps for Agile Teams" class="wp-image-28429"/></figure></div>



1. Slower delivery: By automating testing, deployment, and other operations, DevOps practices can speed up the delivery of software. Agile teams may find it difficult to produce software quickly without DevOps, especially if manual processes are necessary.



2. Increased error rates: Detecting&nbsp;problems early in the development process, DevOps approaches can help lower the error rate of software releases. An Agile team may have increased error rates without DevOps, which could cause delays, rework, and a detrimental effect on client satisfaction.&nbsp;



3. Siloed teams: For Agile teams working on challenging projects, DevOps approaches strongly emphasize teamwork and communication. Without DevOps, teams might not coordinate their efforts and communicate effectively, which could result in silos and delays in the development process.&nbsp;



4. Limited visibility: By giving teams immediate access to information about the status of software releases, DevOps approaches help them swiftly detect and fix problems. Agile teams might not have as much insight into the state of the development process without DevOps, which could result in delays and missed deadlines.&nbsp;



5. Increased technical debt: Continuous integration, delivery, and deployment are essential components of DevOps processes, which can help stop technical debt from building up. Without DevOps, an Agile team would accrue technological debt, which would eventually result in greater expenses and longer development cycles.&nbsp;



Conclusion&nbsp;



Agile and DevOps both aim to speed up and improve the quality of software development; without the other, they are less effective. Companies should place a high priority on feedback, collaboration, and communication to make sure that everyone is working toward the same objectives and that problems are found and fixed right away. 



Lack of DevOps in an Agile team can result in technological debt accumulation, siloed teams, higher error rates, and slower delivery. To fully enjoy the advantages of Agile development, DevOps practices must be integrated into Agile teams.

DevOps for Agile Teams: Should Agile teams adopt DevOps?

Test automation distinguishes itself by making a difference via reducing expenses, boosting productivity, and lowering error rates. No development team, I&#8217;m sure, will reject the efficiency that a solid automation suite can establish during a typical development process. The most significant of these traits is that test automation is a collaborative and time-consuming effort. Silo tests frequently fail to produce the desired outcomes, especially when many teams are working together to create impact.&nbsp;



In order to keep the machine running smoothly, collaboration is essential oil. This article focuses on the six crucial principles, software test automation teams should talk about before beginning to automate the tests &nbsp;Creating consensus and outlining common rules aids teams in creating and maintaining cleaner and efficient code.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-37.png" alt="6 test automation principles" class="wp-image-27469" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#1_System_statenbsp">1 1. System state&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#2_Authenticationnbsp">2 2. Authentication&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#3_Authorisationnbsp">3 3. Authorisation&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#4_Test_data_bed">4 4. Test data bed</a></li><li><a href="#5_Test_Layeringnbsp">5 5. Test Layering&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#6_Frequency_of_test_executionnbsp">6 6. Frequency of test execution&nbsp;</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-1-system-state">1. System state&nbsp;</h2>



While building the test automation suite, one important principle is “system state”. System state makes the foundational aspect and has direct influence on the success or failure of test suite. Considering the application design into the account teams have to consider the state in which the application presents better. Not to forget the costs involved in maintaining the environment. Test environments are set up in various ways&nbsp;



i. Long Living test environment &#8211; These are the test environments, once set up will continue to run except few maintenance shutdowns. Usually, enterprise applications are backed with such test environments due to the complexity of the business functions and speghetti system configuration. Most often we also see legacy applications running on long living test environments.&nbsp;



ii. Hybrid test environments &#8211; These are the test environments where part of the system configuration is up and running all the time, whereas some part can be triggered on-demand. These type of test environments are the most complex to work with due to the partial existence, not many teams prefer the system set up this way.&nbsp;



iii. On-demand Test environments&#8211; These are the test environments which can be set up anytime and dismantled after the use. Most often cloud applications harness this advantage.&nbsp;



In each of these test environment the behavior of test data, authroization, authentication and external integrations vary at various levels. Test teams have to&nbsp; take into application architecture into account before designing the E2E tests. While long living test environments are blessed with an advantage of maintaining and managing the system status, the On-demand environments have advantage of prestine test environment avoiding any stale test data.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-39.png" alt="test environments" class="wp-image-27473" width="600" height="400"/><figcaption>On-demand Test environments</figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 id="2-authentication">2. Authentication&nbsp;</h2>



The most fundamental test that any automation suite may have is user authentication into an application. However, the majority of applications operate behind cookies. When a user logs into an application, the application is supported by pertinent cookies to function around the user. The high level of personal experience that e-commerce websites want to deliver necessitates that these applications operate behind cookies.&nbsp;



There are 2 ways to distribute these cookies.&nbsp;



1. Create the appearance of a typical user action and log in to the application using the user credentials.&nbsp;



2. After starting the program, insert these cookies into the active browser session to acquire access to it before the window loads.&nbsp;



Before creating the test suits, test teams should agree on the execution strategy, especially in multi-scrum/scaled agile teams. Depending on how the system is accessed, various <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/software-testing-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testing strategies</a> are used. When tests are created to use embedded cookies, extra caution must be taken to check the cookies each time the session reloads; otherwise, the tests will continue to regularly fail.&nbsp;



According to the test requirements of the team, the test suite is frequently repeated and run in a variety of environments, including development, testing, staging, demo, and production. In these circumstances, the test suit unquestionably requires clarification regarding how authentication will be handled.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-38.png" alt="Authentication " class="wp-image-27471" width="600" height="400"/><figcaption>Authentication&nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 id="3-authorisation">3. Authorisation&nbsp;</h2>



One of the key concepts in any B2B or B2C application is access management. Authorization for user layers is a widely used notion in business solutions. Before developing the test automation suit, this is one of the most vital aspects that needs to be addressed. Concepts related to identity and access management should be handled as early in the phase as possible given they directly affect the test design.&nbsp;



Below are a few open questions to consider&nbsp;



Should you create several users with various levels of access? or alter the authorisations on the fly while running the test?&nbsp;



Should you create a new user each time the test is triggered? or can we have long living user credentials?&nbsp;



How do you prefer to compare modifications made by users with varying levels of authorisation?&nbsp;



What levels must be included in the process of test automation? Should we conduct vertical testing or handle each tier separately? What user combinations can never be generated?&nbsp;



Test data dependancy for user levels&nbsp;



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<h2 id="4-test-data-bed">4. Test data bed</h2>



Preparing the test bed before the test execution is very important. Most tests should be supported with relevant Test data for successful execution. Theoretically most data should be flexible and should be achieved through parameterization. However, in real world execution not all tests can be run on flexible protocol due to various parameters.&nbsp;



A shared understanding of the constants used for the test execution should be established. Test framework should also be supported with separate file with collection of hard data. Application URL, User credentials, search terms, forms etc are classic examples where we see hard data being seeded.&nbsp;



<h2 id="5-test-layering">5. Test Layering&nbsp;</h2>



Load a Frontend, perform an action wait for the operation to take place triggering changed UI state. Applying assertion on the changed UI state is what by and large is defined as test automation. Personally, I believe this is not how tests should be automated. By restricting the checks only to the old v/s new UI state you are barely scratching the surface of the test goal.&nbsp;



Establish a clear test design guideline for all CRUD operations performed and layers that needs to be verified to call it a successful tests. For example: When a user is prompted to fill the form and on click of save button the form details will be saved in backend DB. The tests should include the verification of the calls made to the backend, type of data transferred, checking the headers for security, verifying the response call, verifying the response schema and finally validating the data rendering on the UI makes a complete test flow for respective feature.&nbsp;



Let us not forget, achieving such test design needs good hold technically. Most often test teams lose their track over a period of time when new team members join and automation is handed over with less care.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-40.png" alt="Test Layering " class="wp-image-27475" width="600" height="400"/><figcaption>Performance Checks</figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 id="6-frequency-of-test-execution">6. Frequency of test execution&nbsp;</h2>



&nbsp;A team of active developers generate more PRs in a day compared to conservative development team. The main goal behind <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automating tests</a> is to free up test engineers time for more critical tasks and also to achieve flexibility in executing the tests wherever required without having to worry about environments where the tests are triggered.&nbsp;



A team with higher PR traffic cannot afford to wait until all tests get executed to receive the early feedback. As this becomes the bottleneck in the <a href="https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/devops/what-cicd-pipeline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CI pipeline</a> as agents get busy building the code for a long. Thus, as a team, the last principle of software test automation is to decide on the type and frequency of tests to be performed during the code build, during the nightly executions etc.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-41.png" alt="Frequency of test execution" class="wp-image-27477" width="600" height="400"/></figure></div>



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Read more articles written by Sowmya Sridharamurthy:



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/the-unpleasant-phenomenon-in-agile-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Unpleasant Phenomenon In Agile Testing</a>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/api-testing-basics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">API testing basics for beginners</a>

6 elemental principles to be discussed before initiating test automation

6 Elemental Principles of Automation: Why They Matter?

71% of businesses are using an agile development methodology. Agile emphasizes continuous integrations to produce incremental value often. Although this strategy is fancy in theory, it involves a lot of regression testing for the testers. Maintaining all the application features and offering continuous testing assistance becomes a headache for testing teams, particularly when the application is moving toward perpetual expansion. 



The majority of teams use the shift-left methodology, where rapid checks are made at the integration point using automated tests. Operations may automatically start a series of tests when the implemented code is pushed for merging with the master branch. Moving away from unicorns and rainbows, we get to see the ground reality of most development teams where the challenge is not just about the number of people, but also about available skill sets, supportive tools, technology, non-supportive processes, etc.&nbsp;



Having worked across different regions, I have been associated with teams of varied organizational structures. In each of those teams, the value proposition of test automation has been driven in a unique way. Why do I say that? test automation turns out to become time intensive activity if it’s not planned well. It is not something that can be done once and forgotten. Test automation requires ongoing attention and upkeep.&nbsp;



The only focus of test automation autonomy is on who is responsible for writing test scripts, running them on a regular basis, making decisions about test environments, maintaining the tests, and scaling these tests. I have seen numerous forms of autonomy and their benefits and drawbacks while working with diverse teams with varying demands.&nbsp;



Let&#8217;s examine a few commonly used <a href="https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/software-project-team-organization/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation team structures</a>.&nbsp;



1. Developer-led test automation team



&nbsp;Organizations with 1-2 scrum teams usually suffer from the non-availability of dedicated resources. Team members play multiple roles to get things done. These are usually energetic and self-driven environments, no formal processes are set up and team members just carry out the tasks according to what they see as right. It is hard to find uniform practices in such teams.&nbsp;



In these cases, developers take ownership of writing a few automated tests along with their unit tests. Most UI developers also take care of front-end and End-to-End testing.&nbsp;



PROS:



Self-managed and driven&nbsp;



Test code is written along with the development



Good test code principles in action&nbsp;



Failing tests can be fixed along/during the development timeline 



CONS



Miss out on various <a href="https://testsigma.com/end-to-end-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">End-to-End testing</a> scenarios&nbsp;&nbsp;



Tries to programmatically get things done by calling DB or log in directly escaping actual checks&nbsp;



The tests added are of limited support&nbsp;



Regular maintenance of failing scripts needs constant followup&nbsp;



Neglected and forgotten after a period of time&nbsp;



2. Split responsibility test automation team&nbsp;



In most small-scale organizations with 2-3 scrum teams, an individual tester is assigned to each scrum team. In such scenarios, the test colleague must take care of new features testing, perform regression, support non-functional tests and be available for any hot fixes/upgrades/migrations planned for the ongoing sprint. A split approach was taken, where developers would write the automated tests for all the new features and hand over the test code to the test colleague for execution, managing, and maintenance.



PROS



Development and test code go hand in hand within sprint&nbsp;



Good code practices are implemented&nbsp;



Shared effort, reduces the burden on single person&nbsp;



CONS



Compromises in test coverage&nbsp;



Added responsibility for developers along with Unit tests&nbsp;



Pressing priorities take away the attention from developers&nbsp;



Maintenance onus leads to more work for test engineers&nbsp;



Technical skills should be sharpened for test engineers to manage and maintain the code&nbsp;



3. Tester-led automation team 



Each scrum team would be given at least two test engineers in organizations where resource fulfilment was not a problem. where the workload on one person is reduced by dividing the testing jobs among the test engineers. Test engineers were solely responsible for writing, running, maintaining, and upgrading the test scripts. In scrum teams, this kind of test autonomy is typically favored. However, the process becomes more difficult because there are so many integration points in large agile teams. if the test cases are not carefully identified and mapped out. Failures start to multiply at the integration points.&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/tester-led-automation-team-.jpg" alt="Tester-led automation team" class="wp-image-26793" width="600" height="400" /></figure></div>



PROS:



Clearly defined accountability of test automation&nbsp;



Analysis of automation requirements and scenario coverage are taken care Enough time and care is dedicated to the tools and tech.&nbsp;



CONS



The hygiene of test code is dependent on test engineers’ tech skills Scaled agile can get overwhelming if there are no guardrails put in place&nbsp;



This can be resource intensive, as the application grows there will be a need for more hands on deck.&nbsp;



4. Outsourced (Qaas) test automation team



Organizations are choosing external testing services more frequently these days simply because they have more time to concentrate on innovation and be flexible while developing their expansion strategies. Since delivery times are getting shorter due to intense competition, firms cannot afford to spend their time investing in internal talent development because it is an expensive and resource-intensive activity. By contracting out test activities, a significant amount of responsibility is transferred to the test service provider. Having said that, outsourcing test activities comes with its own framework of challenges.



PROS



Required skills are readily available&nbsp;



Testing and test automation are taken care by the service provider&nbsp;



Test coverage through test automation is achieved. Teams may just have to overlook the ongoing deliverables&nbsp;



CONS



Someone within the team/organisation should lead the discussions with regard to testing&nbsp;



The Leading person should have a good understanding of what should be expected from the service provider&nbsp;



Regular audits of the tests prepared and executed should be carried out&nbsp;



Test code and other artifacts to be handed over should be clearly discussed while drawing the SLAs&nbsp;



Try out Testsigma, the test automation tool that enables collaboration for all members of your team.&nbsp;



<h2 id="h-final-thoughts">Final thoughts&nbsp;</h2>



It goes without saying that test automation is the key to maximizing regression testing in agile teams. It is a significant test activity that cannot be disregarded. Teams should evaluate their current circumstances before deciding on a specific strategy for test automation.&nbsp;



There is only the likelihood and availability game; there is no foolproof technique to move things around. Although large organizations may hire additional people as needed, they occasionally run into trouble finding technically proficient testers in time for a project. However, because they must maintain lower operating expenses, small businesses cannot truly invest in tools, up-skilling, or other areas where outsourcing may be appropriate.

Different test automation team structures and their levels of autonomy

The iterative approach to software development emerged around the 1990s. What started as a small co-located, self-sustaining team approach was widely adopted by many development teams. The agile mindset paved way for multiple development frameworks, including the infamous “Scrum methodology”. 



With time, processes undergo metamorphoses, during which a few unpleasant practices sneak in causing distractions within the teams. This article focuses on a few unpleasant software testing distractors within an Agile Scrum team.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The below agile testing distractors may not have a significant impact in plain sight, if left unattended they may cause potential harm in the long run.&nbsp;



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Muted_Refinement_sessionsnbsp">1 Muted Refinement sessions&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#Absence_of_testing_notesnbsp">2 Absence of testing notes&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#Separate_QA_boardnbsp">3 Separate QA board&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#Ignored_test_effortsnbsp">4 Ignored test efforts&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#Commenting_defectsnbsp">5 Commenting defects&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#Piggybacking_testersnbsp">6 Piggybacking testers&nbsp;</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-muted-refinement-sessions">Muted Refinement sessions&nbsp;</h2>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/sXomQO3fUniztvQJkVhL5aaLVmojX6kgllxDRl6VcT_oVXcPEXhht-HsWY2Bdq-4Exi56oTV2JAMnvJ8q87DolB5JnwVaSlyB2EwCGksvBfeQRVsSerCo31HmogvGa4MksGSV0BRZ3cGBnGbe-c" alt="Muted Refinement sessions" width="400" height="400"/><figcaption>The unpleasant phenomenon in Agile testing 1&nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div>



By default, the complexity of a user story is linked to developmental effort conveniently ignoring the testing effort involved. Sometimes implementation would hardly take any time but, the impact of this change stimulates a larger blast radius which significantly boosts the time required for testing. 



A user story is complete and common understanding is established only if the story is addressed in 360degrees. Test implications should be considered during refinement sessions. Test <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/quality-engineering-discussions-with-james-espie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">engineers should facilitate this discussion</a> with the product owner and the wider development team during the refinement session.&nbsp;



<h2 id="absence-of-testing-notes">Absence of testing notes&nbsp;</h2>



Refinement sessions provide a good opportunity for the PO(Product Owner) and the development team to scrub through the user story and add more details. Breaking down a user story into implementable tasks, clarifying any open questions, and validating certain aspects of implementations are the main aim of refinement meetings. However, most of the teams miss out on capturing the test notes.&nbsp;



Let us first discuss what a testing note is?&nbsp;



The supplemental details required to execute the tests for that particular user story is called a testing note. It can be any details like &#8211; test data, plugin requirements, dependency on external services, test limitations, test relevancy, etc.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/5vtx-1rhghBdiJ_9puW34i9d3j70PtyOIeClmqtcu9n765OorbqDPmzfsHe2GodvqESTJ_rpKrSIDCJ3sbs82ZHiiPEH7FbY3Kyhki6Ov4-nrkjM_-U1Hm0cG-BEf3N-B4w-c2oCWciOqz12dF8" alt="Absence of testing notes" width="400" height="400"/><figcaption>The unpleasant phenomenon in Agile testing 2&nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div>



In real-world projects, not all stories can be tested in all environments.&nbsp;



For example: develop or test environments have limited configuration capacity and files of certain sizes cannot be processed. Capturing testing notes helps teams to bring clarity and a shared understanding of how a particular scenario can be approached. It also gives POs a good opportunity to understand the hidden risks.&nbsp;



<h2 id="separate-qa-board">Separate QA board&nbsp;</h2>



Mainstream scrum boards restrict by displaying only the user stories movement across swim lanes. However, an agile <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-be-an-active-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tester performs much more test activities</a> than just the new feature testing or regression testing. For example:&nbsp;



1. Supporting small hot-fixes&nbsp;



2. Short enhancements&nbsp;



3. Legacy applications support&nbsp;



4. Usability testing&nbsp;



5. Automating the user stories&nbsp;



6. Maintenance of automated scripts&nbsp;



7. TestOps etc



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8T1QM1uf0AmUJEIGlHrHTYiwxdbU27VMf4Pu3xUW61U9_6HaxbFlSSvNhWL6Ydg7ralpHDt8lDrqAFepsPXmkH-D9PD5a7VOLHa9AsCIsWDNvFFgdBRApjlBg26eri1isQBBBTNo9uEMqGxBtGc" alt="Separate QA board" width="400" height="400"/><figcaption>The unpleasant phenomenon in Agile testing 3&nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div>



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By and large development teams remain unaware of any of these activities. Agile development team tasks should be as transparent as possible. The available capacity of every team member should be taken into account before pulling in sprint tasks. 



Especially the automation tasks are separated out to different scrum boards, this is detrimental in a long run. To stop this from becoming a major distractor, all the peripheral test activities should be made visible in the sprint scrum board to account for overall delivery within the agile scrum team.&nbsp;



The idea is not to completely discourage having a separate QA scrum board, this can be handy in some <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/agile-automation-testing-safe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scaled agile</a> teams when multiple scrum teams have to coordinate several tasks. However, the clarity of what should stay away from mainstream scrum boards should be given a thought.&nbsp;



<h2 id="ignored-test-efforts">Ignored test efforts&nbsp;</h2>



After scrubbing and combing the backlog in the refinement session, PO prepares a prioritized backlog list which will be presented in a scrum planning meeting. The development team maps each task against the size which implies the effort required to implement the story. Planning is a crucial scrum activity, and most teams miss out on taking testing efforts into account.&nbsp;



This is an anti-pattern in agile methodology. A story is considered to be complete only if it goes through development and testing activities. Agile teams should encourage every team member to actively participate in the planning poker session. Test Engineers should confidently step forward to provide their view on the user stories during the planning meetings.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/NBe9UdY9kggu_biAxAuULTkvu9_TC8_E21miSZPLUwthN6hV9RZn5tMnuTVBmVVRDZfbBqTATQvgRR_XmO_AGerigjrD7j52oEh5Clh1vTYtSwKMukFWwDokguIa8WuAib_5rYaNim2BocT7zcA" alt="Ignored test efforts" width="400" height="400"/><figcaption>The unpleasant phenomenon in Agile testing 4&nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 id="commenting-defects">Commenting defects&nbsp;</h2>



Agile recommends reducing waste and weeding out all the overhead activities. Development teams who do not use external bug reporting tools, encourage team members to report the bugs within the user story tickets. In such cases, the test team will miss out on the most valuable QA activity “root cause analysis”. Why is it even important? Defects are a mirror to the health of the application, a good quality report states the weak links and helps the development team in strengthening those areas which need deeper attention.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/OvOyCBgRq_6ruLf6WjmnaLZM7_MdLqQSMXBByYQ0UBe4y-TEdIA2N8BRY2CgNcrB4w2iyML35Qdx3SvNiEaXZYn1wjmT0tBya2xi0kkYxpHNcXTzxLGzv-ivJovBMUthNoVUactR6xoKRBX-hUc" alt="Commenting defects" width="400" height="400"/><figcaption>The unpleasant phenomenon in Agile testing 5&nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div>



Teams commenting defects within the user story will be unable to aggregate the bugs and feed the root cause analysis activity. The whole idea of iterative development is driven by continuous improvement, when defects are not accessible teams miss out on valuable intrinsic details. To avoid this becoming a distractor in agile testing, it is important to educate development teams about the importance of defect analysis and follow bug reporting either using dedicated tools or some other way where they can aggregate data over a period of time&nbsp;



<h2 id="piggybacking-testers">Piggybacking testers&nbsp;</h2>



Early feedback helps development teams to adopt changes more easily. User stories checked earlier in the development cycle help to establish an early feedback loop. In the real world situation, when the user story is developed and tested PO’s are expected to do a walk-through and bring forth any changes if required.&nbsp;



POs/PM create dependency on testers to give them the demo of a new feature. If the tester and PO fail to catch up on time, the tickets just pile up in the QA lane thus increasing the cycle time. Apprehend this bottleneck even before it piles up to cause deeper issues. Encourage POs to put their hands on the application and try out the features themselves. Doing so not just reduce the latency but also helps business to understand how the feature fits with wider application.&nbsp;



Related reads:



<a href="https://testsigma.com/regression-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://testsigma.com/regression-testing </a><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/common-challenges-in-continuous-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://testsigma.com/blog/common-challenges-in-continuous-testing/ </a><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/top-test-automation-challenges-to-look-out-for/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://testsigma.com/blog/top-test-automation-challenges-to-look-out-for/ </a><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/understanding-agile-testing-framework/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://testsigma.com/blog/understanding-agile-testing-framework/ </a><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/challenges-insprint-automation-regression-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://testsigma.com/blog/challenges-insprint-automation-regression-testing/</a>

The Unpleasant Phenomenon In Agile Testing

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