Earlier, the development team was seen as the be-all and end-all of software development life cycle, with testing forming only a small fraction of the SDLC. Fortunately, this is changing. Modern testing approach involves the development team and the testing team working in close collaboration to improve quality and accelerate product release. To make the right choice in testing approach, let’s better understand the differences between traditional testing vs. agile testing.
Here we have explored the traditional and modern testing principles in more detail in terms of their features, advantages, disadvantages, along with the benefits of modern testing over the traditional method.
What is Traditional Testing?
Traditional testing methodologies have been in existence since the inception of software development. They are primarily based on pre-organized phases/stages of the software testing life cycle. In this case, the testing flow is unidirectional, from testing to maintenance. With time, IT practices have evolved and so have testing approaches, as traditional testing usually fails to address the product’s continuous testing needs.
Features Of Traditional Testing
- Performed incrementally.
- The result is only released after all the defects in the software are either resolved or rectified.
- Entirely managed by the project manager.
- Follows a top-down approach where the next phase of testing begins only after completion of the previous stage.
- Predefined steps to execute the process.
- The client’s involvement is required only in the initial phase of testing.
Advantages Of Traditional Testing
- It helps in the identification of the maximum number of defects.
- It ensures a quality product.
Disadvantages of Traditional Testing
- It is a long-running and taxing process.
- Since the changes are implemented only at the end of testing, product delivery speed is affected.
- The complete set of requirements must be communicated in the initial phase without any chance of modification after the project development has started.
- The approach has minimal to no interactions between different software testers.
- Documentation becomes a high priority in traditional methodology and becomes expensive to create.
- There are minimal chances to implement reusable components.
Traditional testing methodologies are suitable only when the requirements are precise. Although the process is quite useful in identifying defects with the product under test, with the advent of modern or agile testing practices, traditional testing practices have become incompatible.
What is Modern/Agile Testing?
With rapid technological developments and an increasing number of organizations entering into the software testing space, software testers are capable of different testing processes and optimizing these processes at multiple levels of testing by following the modern ways of testing.
This modern or agile software testing practice is an iterative and incremental approach. It typically covers all layers and all types of testing. The entire testing team collaborates to find defects in the software while validating its quality, performance, and effectiveness.
In agile testing methodology, both the development and testing tasks are performed collaboratively while ensuring an exclusive tester for testing purposes.
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