By Rajesh Bashyam – VP Client Services
Industry research shows that 35% of the software issues that are discovered in a typical software development life cycle can be avoided when prioritized regression testing is integrated into the process.
Adding an offshore regression component to your development team can help you improve your software quality, while spending about 50% less than by building that capacity in house.
This article will help to explain both how to integrate an offshore regression team into an otherwise in-house Agile development environment.
Testing Within Agile
Agile scrum teams build software incrementally. Effective teams focus on speed of delivery and completeness of the software product and use metrics to improve their productivity over time. In almost all cases, the most effective teams are co-located in the same environment. With each Sprint the team works together to deliver a fully functional release that meets the requirements (Stories) selected at the start of the Sprint.
Most Sprint teams include functional testers to improve release quality. The challenge they face is that within the short duration of each Sprint the testers must both define and execute the test cases for each Story. Â There is limited time for executing a regression test covering functions from previous Sprints or even releases and even less time for updating a regression test or trying to automate parts of it.
As the team adds additional functionality, the risk of regression errors increases. Â In some cases, a team will then devote an entire Sprint near the end of a release cycle dedicated to running regression tests. The challenge with this approach is that issues found are late in the development cycle and can risk significant rework.
Adding Regression Testing to Agile
One solution to this testing challenge is to establish a dedicated regression team that would work outside the Agile SCRUM team. Its role is to maintain a product regression suite. Ideally, they would maintain a set of automated scripts that would perform a subset of the test suite. While distinct from the SCRUM, the regression team would work together with the Agile team.  In their regular cycle of work, the team would
- Incrementally update the regression tests with the manual scripts created by the SCRUM’s functional testers
- Executed the manual and automated regression scripts against each Sprint release
- Update the automated scripts with any fallout from the changing software and by selectively automating new functional tests
Clearly defined metrics will help you ensure your regression team is accomplishing your quality objectives:
- Regression test coverage (as a percentage of total functional test cases)
- Automated test coverage (as a percentage of total regression scripts)
- Time to execute
- Valid defects captured
- Percent of invalid defects reported
Outsourcing the Regression Testing
When looking to saving costs in testing, outsourcing of the functional testing may not be the best solution. In most cases, keeping the testers embedded in the SCRUM with the developers will allow for the most efficient transfer of knowledge between the team members and the highest productivity for the team. Outsourcing the entire team (development and testing) may be an option, but not just the functional testers.
However, the regression testing is a prime candidate for outsourcing for several reasons:
- The interface points between the Agile scrum and the regression team can be well defined.
- You can take advantage of a time zone difference to have the regression testing completed and documented overnight.
- Clearly defined metrics will help confirm that you are meeting your business objectives of both quality and cost savings
Automated Regression Testing with Dextrys
Dextrys is a US-based software outsourcing company providing Regression Testing solutions to clients worldwide. Our Regression Testing service can help you to decrease your defect ratio while improving your code coverage and overall software quality.
To know more about Dextrys and the services we offer please visit http://www.dextrys.com
