In software development, quality assurance is more about the QA process you are using and if it is producing a return on investment than it is about testing the product by meeting business requirements. The client is constantly asking for frequent and iterative deployments in the software sector these days. If you work in quality assurance, you will be required to test systems with frequently changing needs or those with fast-emerging requirements that result in frequently changing code. In order to be a perfect QA resource, you must be involved from the beginning to the end of the release cycle by ensuring that clients and team members are in agreement on all aspects of development and testing.

By incorporating Agile into our daily work, we can optimize the quality assurance process and plan and carry out every testing task for the various stages of development. While there are other ways to use Agile, I’m focusing on Scrum here. Organizations using the scrum frequently adhere to the Sprint, a two- to three-week iterative release schedule. The following are some very useful tips for any QA professional looking to boost productivity in Agile.

Increasing the Sprint Planning’s Story Point

The first step before selecting any User Story is to decide what the story points are. Sometimes a one-liner modification will benefit the development team, but it affects every module in the system, thus when suggesting narrative points, you have to use extreme caution. 

Similarly, we choose the number in an ascending order if the story is vast.

Putting the sprint’s requirements and the story first

Choosing which tasks to prioritize during an active sprint might be difficult, but as a quality assurance professional, you can take into account the following factors.

• Make sure that all of the significant changes are chosen early in the sprint to allow testing to be completed within the allotted time and to give us enough time to address any unforeseen issues.
• Be sure to select the best mix based on priority when selecting the story for a given sprint. For instance, out of 10 tales, five should have a medium priority, three low priority, and two high priority.
• Make sure you are selecting the spillover items from the prior sprint at the beginning.

Tracking the backlogs

In addition to client requests for changes to already-existing functionality, the product backlogs frequently include new user stories. We also have some outstanding items that we haven’t yet chosen because of other active projects. As a quality assurance representative, it is your primary duty to continuously monitor the backlogs and communicate with developers and clients. This allows us to select items from the backlogs for the current or upcoming sprint, which also helps you eliminate items from the backlog that aren’t as urgent.

Attending the Stand-up meeting on a daily basis

By giving the other members of the Agile Team timely updates, daily stand-up meetings help to keep everyone on the same page. As a quality assurance professional, you should stay up to date on your job and any obstacles you may be facing. You should also maintain regular contact with the development team to ensure that all development is in line with the business needs. Daily scrum sessions typically last 15 minutes, and the topic of conversation revolves around the following three points.

Which job did you work on yesterday?

Which assignment are you taking on today?

Do you possess any obstacles? 

Collaborate with the Client

One of a QA person’s main duties is to be in continual contact with the client and provide his or her testing experiences regarding the system. Additionally, you are welcome to offer any fresh concepts or enhancements that may make the project easier for consumers to access. You can also inform the client that the system will behave differently following the new code change, and you can get feedback to determine whether or not these changes meet their needs. You can also find out if they require any additional add-ons, in which case you can schedule those before the release.

Taking part in the meeting on reflection

You should always attend the retrospective meeting as a progressive QA resource and provide all of your experience and input regarding the sprint.

In order to proceed with your task, you must ensure that you have a solution in place for any obstacles or problems that arose during the previous sprint.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, implementing best practices in Agile for QA involves leveraging automation testing with Selenium. 

Selenium automation testing offers numerous benefits, including faster testing cycles, improved test accuracy, and enhanced efficiency. By incorporating Selenium into Agile methodologies, teams can streamline the testing process, increase test coverage, and deliver high-quality software products more rapidly. Embracing automation with Selenium empowers QA teams to adapt to the dynamic nature of Agile development, ensuring continuous integration and delivery while maintaining the highest standards of quality assurance.