Agile testing refers to a paradigm shift in software testing influenced by teams using an Agile development approach. First written in 2001 by seventeen software experts, the Agile manifesto established a new way of developing and testing applications, moving to a cross-functional approach in which everyone is responsible for quality, not just QA teams.

In fact, the QA team doesn’t work independently in Agile — testing is an embedded practice within the wider Agile development team. Both testers and developers work together to release high-quality software faster and more frequently.

Some best practices for Agile testing include:

Increased test automation for quicker feedback on applications

Automated regression testing to support the iterative fast-paced Agile development approach

Defined testing strategy from the outset

Collaboration between developers and testers

Testing completion within the sprint cycle (iteration).

Use of Agile testing metrics

This post focuses on Agile testing metrics (see this learning section by SeaLights for a broad list of testing metrics relevant to Agile teams). It’s crucial that Agile teams shift their focus to measurements relevant in Agile (for example, individual metrics such as the number of test cases executed per tester are not applicable to a cross-functional team).

Test metrics provide a way of improving testing efforts, however, no single metric is perfect. Below are some examples of Agile testing metrics and how they can help your team improve its testing efforts and the quality of software you develop.

Agile Testing Metrics

1. Cyclomatic Complexity

Definition: Cyclomatic complexity is a measure of the number of linearly independent paths through a section of source code.