Agile Testing Interview Questions

AGILE methodology is a practice followed by QA and is known to promote continuous iteration of development. This testing takes place in the dynamic environment as the requirements keep changing according to the needs of the customer. This testing takes place throughout the development of the software lifecycle of a particular project. Unlike the Waterfall model the testing and development activities are concurrent. The Agile testing is done to the developmental activity in a parallel order and the team testing it receives small codes frequently from the development team.

The agile testing is based on four core values:

1. Giving more importance to the team and individual interactions more than tools and processes
2. Giving more importance to working software more than comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration is above contract negotiation
4. Responding to change above following a plan

In the traditional Waterfall model, the testing is generally done at the end of development. However, in Agile methodology, the testing is done in parallel with the developmental activity, which means that as the development progresses so does the testing.

A release burns down the chart is a graph, which is used to depict the release that is still pending and was planned earlier.

Pair programming is basically a technique where two programmers work as part of the team. Here, one programmer is assigned to review the code which the other one is writing the code. The role can be easily switched between the programmers.

The Benefits of Pair Programming:

1. Easy transfer of Knowledge: One experienced partner can always teach the other one about codes and techniques.
2. The code quality is improved: if the second partner is reviewing the code simultaneously, then it simply reduces the chances of mistake.

Incremental Development: Software development is done mainly in increments or more specifically, parts. In every single increment, a part of the complete requirement is to be delivered.

Iterative Development: Software is known to be delivered after developing it, to the customer. Based on the feedback, the software is again developed in cycles and released in sprints. For example, if in Release 1 after five sprints the software is developed and delivered to the customer. After that, if the customer wants changes to be made, then the development team has to make plans for the second release that will be completed in sprints and so on.

1. An agile tester should have a better and quick understanding of the requirements.
2. Agile principals and concepts should be known by the Agile Tester.
3. He should be able to understand the risk involved in the requirements as they always keep changing.
4. Agile tester, based on the requirements, should know how to prioritize the work involved.
5. An agile tester must be able to communicate with the business associates and developers as their work depends upon better communication.

This question basically tests the analytical capability of the candidate. The answer can be given as:

You need to work with PO and to update the test cases one needs to understand the exact requirement. The agile tester must also understand the risk involved in changing the requirement every time. Keeping all this aside the agile tester must also be able to write the test cases and generic test plan. One must not go for the automation until and unless the requirements are finalized.

Tasks: Tasks are created by the team to accomplish the business requirements development

Epic: A group of related user stories is known as an Epic.

1. User story: The actual business requirement or the user story.
2. To Do: Tasks that can be worked upon.
3. In Progress: Tasks, that is in progress.
4. To Verify: Tasks that are still pending for the testing or verification
5. Done: Tasks that are completed.

1) To begin with, either owner or the customer reads the agile user story, and its features are understood by the estimator.

2) Every estimator has planning cards each having a different number on it, like for example 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and so on. The number on the card stands for the story points or ideal days.

3) The features set by the owner of the product are discussed by the Estimator after selecting the cards based on their estimation.

4) In case a common value is selected, then-then that is the estimate. If it is not the case, then they discuss upon the minimum and maximum value estimation.

5) The above process is repeated until and unless they all reach a general agreement.

As there are advantages, there are disadvantages as well for using an agile model; they are as follows:

1. Focusing on documentation and design is not proper sometimes.
2. If there is even a simple mistake in understanding the guidelines that are provided by the customers, then programmers may have to do it all again or else the outcome of the project will not be satisfying to the customer.
3. Agile model is not that to predict. When encountered with a large project, it is not easy to predict the amount of effort needed in the project.
4. Basically, High-level decisions are catered by Veterans, which is most of the time combined with non-experienced ones. Fresher may have no to little scope to grasp proper knowledge.

•  The focus is on satisfied customers.
•  The code is clean and bug-free.
•  Changes suggested by the customers are always welcomed.
•  The work is done collectively by developers and whole team business persons.
•  The focus is on essence as opposed to lengthy documentation.
•  Face-to-face conversations are emphasized upon.
•  Sustainable development is promoted.

The methodology followed by Agile testing requires the code to be broken down into small units and only one unit is worked upon or tested at a time. This is not the case with other testing methodologies. This agile process practiced by the team focuses on one particular unit of the code through continuous communication. This method is more flexible.

While using test driven developments, collaborators of class responsibilities, pair programming, daily stand-up meeting, reviews, continuous integration, time-boxed task board, and more, you will easily know that you are simply using the best- agile development.

 
The main roles in the scrum are:

1) Scrum team: The scrum team comprises of individuals who work together to achieve the best results for any given task. The requested product is delivered by a committed scrum team with a deep bond.

2) Scrum master: As the name suggests, the scrum master is the individual responsible for the proper execution and working of the entire team. The scrum master is a leader as well as a coach. It is his duty to ensure that the team performs at their best, being productive towards both, the scrum as well as the end sprint goal.

3) Product owner: The responsibilities of the product owner include the delivery of a complete and clear picture with respect to what is to be built. The product owner also conveys the same idea to the team.

Developers might accidentally execute a bug during the development of the software. When such kinds of bugs generate warnings, result in failed normal executions during testing or even hamper the compilation process- this irregularity is referred to broken build. The priority of the tester in such cases is to bring the development back to the standard stage by quickly resolving the issue with bugs.