Role of QA Tester Automation in Agile Development

Agile methodology is the common software technique adopted by IT firms these days to progress projects rapidly by providing incremental releases with every sprint. Sprint is a short phase involved in agile during which the project team sets realistic goals and works towards accomplishing them. An automation QA tester will be responsible for stamping the product as a quality one and plays a crucial role in agile projects.

Understanding QA Tester Automation in Agile Development

A team of QA testers are engaged in testing the product before sending it to customers to create quality outputs. A test plan is created and the automation testers derive different scenarios to cover during the automation process. These highly skilled automation engineers work by creating a test suite and executing them to ensure all important functionalities are working fine.

Benefits of QA Automation Tester in Agile Development

1. Promise Quality Products to Clients

An automation tester can test the application in no time with the help of automation tools that are capable of maximum test coverage. These tools can test the products extensively thereby promising quality deliverables. A series of automated regression tests are handled smartly by QA Automation engineers via the tool that ensures a bug fix does not have any major impact on other modules.

2. Provides a Learning Environment for the team

Employing QA Automation testers in agile projects can give them good exposure by working on advanced tools. This will reduce manual intervention and improve the product output with a positive learning curve on cutting-edge technologies.

3. Saves Time and Money

Money and time are two key aspects of any organization. On that note, QA Automation is a saviour for large projects where the set of test cases can be run repeatedly in different environments in no time. This will eventually cut down the interference of manual testers who may take a long time to run them manually.

Challenges of QA Tester Automation in Agile Development

1. Human Dependency

Although there are many advanced automation tools in the industry the main challenge is involving qualified testers who will do the job like a pro. The tool can do justification only when a series of test cases is written already by a manual tester which increases the dependency on conventional testers for Automation testers.

2. Choosing the Tool

The second challenge dealt with by Automation engineers is choosing the right tool that will perform the test run effectively on the application. This requires some groundwork to find and explore the available tools and choose one for the project. A newly appointed automated tester can find it tedious to select the right tool and could be time-consuming as well.

3. Lack of Team Coordination

Teamwork and effective communication are inevitable to achieve quality in Automation testing as their roleplay matters a lot. Poor communication can lead to delayed project deliveries which can affect the reputation of the company.

4. Acquiring the Desired Salary

In the initial stages of their career, a QA Automation tester can find it challenging to identify potential job opportunities that will pay them an attractive salary. They need to work and establish themselves as a good Automation engineer to receive huge benefits.

Best Practices for Implementing QA TestAutomation in Agile Development

Test automation has resulted in increased test coverage and efficiency by saving a huge amount of money for companies. The agile process combined with test automation has a proven effect of enhanced productivity by delivering the products speedily. This will in turn boost the revenue of the business as clients will be impressed with prompt deliveries of products.

Let us discuss the best practices in QA Automation with respect to agile methodology.

1. Test-driven development

A meticulous practice followed by QA testers involving the design of automation test scripts before the development team completes the product.

2. Choose the Best Automation Tool

For back-to-back deliveries in agile, the QA tester must choose a reliable automation tool to run the scripts instantly and share consecutive reports with the development team. The tool should integration tool to import the bugs into it for the fast running of the scripts.

3. Adapt Test Automation at System Level

Automating a product, on the whole, can result in so many bugs and once the developer fixes it, there might be a change request from the client. This consumes too much testing efforts. to avoid this, testers can start with single module testing followed by integration testing and then the entire system to avoid any discrepancies.

4. Always Automate Regression Test Cases

Regression testing is checking the other modules of an application are working fine after a fix in one module. QA Automation engineers must make it a practice to automate the regression test cases to ensure maximum coverage in a short time without delaying the planned deliveries.

5. Be Flexible in Implement Changes Requested by the Client

The agile process involves frequent requirements changes and automation testers must focus on incremental releases by automating the test cases for changed functionality. Modify the test scenarios and cases and run them before providing the release to the clients.

6. Work According to Customer’s Requirements

QA team must test the products in view of customers focussing more on usability and whether the application meets all the specifications in the RTM. Clarify with the customers if there are any doubts about the functionality and then perform the testing to meet their expectations.

Tools for QA Tester Automation in Agile Development

Some popular QA Automation tools are capable of producing flawless test results. Autify is an AI-oriented automation test tool employed for testing web and mobile applications. QA Wolf is another sought-after tool for creating test cases on the fly and running them later when required. Avo Assure is a simple automation tool responsible for handling minimal coding testing while Sahi Pro is famous for hassle-free bug logging and tracking. Watir tool maintains the test cases easily and Testral is best suited for retail-based applications.

Future of QA Tester Automation in Agile Development

QA Automation testers have a bright scope in the IT industry pertaining to their brilliant testing come coding skills to test the software. These testers play a significant role in the quality of the products which is the reason many clients look up to them and are willing to pay them more for their proactive job skills.

This makes QA Automation testers more desirable as they contribute towards the improvements of the product to sustain in the competitive market. Their roles are likely to expand more with many companies recruiting automation engineers over manual testers considering their problem-solving, ability to think from end-users’ point and time management skills. They will definitely get a handful of opportunities to highlight their talents and go up the ladder in their automation test career.

Conclusion

Agile methodology is the common practice adapted in today’s fast pacing IT companies to deliver products within the stipulated timeframe for customers. A speedy yet efficient process that has all the phases well planned in short cycles called as sprints makes it more obsolete. The role of QA Automation testers is outstanding in agile projects as they run the test cases and record the results in an automated environment. The Automation testers ate involved in regression, system, performance, load, and stress testing of the application to check the application is up to the mark before delivering to the client.