Regression testing is like going to the gym. You know that you should do it and you realise it’s critical for your health. Yet most of us don’t end up following an exercise regimern. Many of us on New Year’s Day buy gym memberships. Others (like me!) get exercise equipment like an elliptical as a “gift” on their birthday from significant others. Similarly, the majority of software companies don’t perform an effective software regression.
Some software companies do not have any regression testing. This is equal to not having a gym membership. These companies have frequent periodic interruptions, in which the organisation goes into a state of panic when their software breaks. This leads to a loss in their revenue and also affects their brand reputation.
Just like how with lack of exercise, a person’s immunity is affected, with lack of regression testing, some companies may shut down or fire their head of engineering. Luckily, this is a very small share of the pie of the software industry. Often these are start-ups who are in their very early stage of existence.
Companies who do regression testing are equivalent to people who have gym membership. The company will have a few QA resources, some automation tools and will fight bravely till the software is released.
If a company has a defined software regression, it’s equivalent to a smoke test (basic functional validation) that is carried out. The software “works” at least temporarily. People pitch in to validate but there are embarrassing outages that happen. The head of engineering gets sick and once recovered, decides to go to the gym and maybe even get a trainer!
Ok, now we are talking! The software regression is happening on a regular basis. Test cases are starting to be defined. But, now the amount of work and the amount of resources that are being dedicated to regression, starts being a significant drag on the velocity of development.
Often there are long discussions between product management and engineering departments on the velocity of feature development. When the regression debt increases, due to too many missed sessions with the trainer, there are periods of outages that are then ameliorated with a strong focus on regression. Automation is brought up-to-date. QA resources spend weeks on thoroughly carrying out full regression. Then the focus changes to features and the organisation slides back to missing trainer sessions.
Most software companies are stuck here. It is not that we don’t know that we need to carry out regression, but it’s a matter of priority. And priorities change with time.
What is needed in order to carry out an effective Software regression?
Just the way a gym trainer provides an exercise regimern, your company needs a plan for the software regression that should be carried out to reap maximum benefits. The plan composes of:
There are a variety of ways to execute the test cases.
Exploratory testing is inherently people-based.
If you want to know more about the differences between Test Case and Exploratory read here.
Types of resources impact the three variables below
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Oh yeah, you really should hit the gym before your better half gifts you a gym membership or an elliptical!
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