7 Tips to be More Innovative in the Age of Agile Testing to Survive an Economic Crisis

Understanding Agile Testing

“Agile testing involves engaging from the customer’s viewpoint as early as feasible, conducting tests as soon as the code becomes accessible and stable enough following module/unit testing.” – A Wikipedia explanation.

This guide offers straightforward and actionable advice on how to foster creativity during agile testing in order to navigate an economic downturn.

Let’s dive in!!

Demand for Innovations in the Age of Agile Testing

Global Recession/Economic Downtime Impact

Present Events Do Not Equal Current Trends

Global economic downturns inevitably influence the information technology and finance industries. Clients become more hesitant to enter the software business. Some clients are pulling out of long-term projects while others use the situation to quote lower prices.

Several projects have taken longer than expected and have exceeded anticipated costs. As a result, businesses explore alternative versions of Agile to deliver software more consistently and iteratively.

The roles of Test Managers and Test Architects become more critical in implementing Agile projects. The needs of the larger testing community increasingly drive innovation.

Obstacles in Agile Testing

Regardless of being part of an Agile development team, Agile testers face numerous trials. These testers should be capable of applying Root-Cause Analysis to identify serious bugs and prevent them from recurring. Despite having different versions, Scrum remains a common method for implementing Agile.

Critical Scrum rules that everyone needs to adhere to:

•  Determine Number of Hours Commitment Up Front
•  Collect Requirements / Forecasts Up Front
•  Record your valid and projected hours daily.
•  Frequent Builds
•  Limit the Daily Scrum meetings duration
•  Code Review is Crucial

In order to overcome the above obstacles, an Agile tester needs to creatively use their available tools. Excellent ideas emerge when what you possess aligns with pressing global needs.

How Can Testers Cultivate Creativity in the Age of Agile Testing?

Essential Components for Innovation Include:

#1) Creativity: An exceptional Agile Tester needs to think outside the box to keep pace with development/rollouts. For these testers, being creative is more significant than being critical.

#2) Skillful: He must constantly seek to learn and innovate while being dissatisfied with previous accomplishments, persistently finding high-value and high-priority bugs.

#3) Courageous: An Agile Tester should not hesitate to inspect a developer’s code and if necessary, rectify it under extreme circumstances.

#4) Visionary: He should possess a comprehensive vision that encompasses client expectations and product delivery.

#5) Empowered: He should feel enabled to work in pairs, participating in Pair Programming for concise scripts, superior designs and broader bug detection.

#6) Passionate: Enthusiastic testers always offer unique contributions, whether through innovative ideas, their daily work approach, their work products or their tireless efforts to improve their environment.

#7) Cross-functional: An Agile Tester should possess multiple abilities such as Manual, Functional, Performance testing, plus soft skills like leadership, communication, EI. This, to make agile testing easier.

“Innovation is the conversion of concepts into a producible and marketable form”– Watts Humpry

Author’s Bio: This guest article comes from J.B.Rajkumar. He is well-versed in Academics and Software Testing. He has functioned as a Trainer, QA Manager, frequent speaker for Colleges, Universities and International Conferences, and is currently associated with a premier MNC.

Note: For any queries related to “Agile Testing and its approaches,” please leave a comment below. We will respond to each question in separate posts.