Performance Testing in an Agile Environment Similarity, Differences,

and Benefits

An Introduction to Performance Testing and Agile just to set the tone!

Performance testing refers to testing whether or not the performance of an application
is fit enough for it to be produced at a large scale. An application that clears the
thorough and rigorous performance testing measures, gets an authentication for being
production ready. A successful performance test is indicative of acceptable behaviour of
the application when under a specific load/stress. Performance testing covers
parameters such as the acceptable use of resources required to perform a task, the
acceptable form/quantity of output, and the acceptable timeframe for performing an
activity. Another very important parameter to consider is the maximum load the
application will be able to bear when multiple concurrent users use the application.
An Agile environment is one that most organizations of the world today are trying to
setup and follow as it provides a system that helps to produce high quality deliverables
in a much lesser time than the erstwhile Waterfall approach. This environment also
improves coordination between the multiple stakeholders, thereby bringing about much
more clarity of the business purpose for the product, leading to an improved quality. As
mentioned, development process based on Agile removes the challenges of a traditional
waterfall model and boosts the ROI (return on investment).

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Performance Testing in Agile Environment

While an Agile environment needs flexibility to sustain and cannot survive in an inefficient
model, performance testing is required to thoroughly check and weed out if any inefficiency
exists in the final product. Obviously, the environment is perfect for the process to grow and
thrive.

What are the Differences?

Following are a few differences between an Agile scenario and performance testing:
While Agile implementation may mean different things for different teams, a
performance tester usually performs the same role as he is wont to do.
As against a traditional environment, where performance testing specialists are
usually engaged at the fag end of SDLC, in an Agile scenario, the same tasks need
to be performed for smaller iterations from the initial stage of the SDLC itself.
In an Agile scenario, once the final objective of the whole SDLC has been defined,
the whole process is chunked down into smaller, SMART goals, each of which
provide a deliverable for the next iteration. In case performance testing becomes
a part of this environment, these iterations may be defined based on
performance builds builds that do not have any performance issues.
What are the Benefits?
Performance testing in an Agile environment offers added benefits in the following
areas:
Quick exposure of bottlenecks: Once performance testing starts being
performed in the initial stages of product development, the bottlenecks can be
exposed and thus fixed much earlier.
Saving of effort and costs: Once a bottleneck is exposed at an early stage, it may
also be resolved earlier. This will reduce the time and resource requirements to
fix the issues in a big way. Its a known fact that a bug resolved during production
may save up to 5 times the cost compared to one that is found once a product is
released.
Reduced Bugs at later stages: Small bugs if left unchecked may lead to more
complex errors. With the bugs being caught earlier on in the cycle, not only the
complexity of the remaining bugs (if any) be easier to manage, the actual number
of bugs to be fixed will also be much more manageable.
Stabilized Application: As an Agile environment requires continuous iterations, it
leads to more frequent and rigorous performance testing, the applications

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become far more stable, and all major risks such as hard coding of values and
memory leaks are taken care of, adding the required stability.
Reusable scripts lead to saving of effort: There may be multiple scripts in the
performance testing process that may be reused going ahead. This re-use may
lead to effort savings of up to 60%.
Boosts Confidence: Because the product gets tested on all its parameters and for
functionality so many times on an iterative basis, the organizations confidence
and faith in its product gets reaffirmed and they can be sure of a scintillating
success story.
If you would like to know how Gallop helped a leading mortgage provider in the United
States to improve the application performance by 25% or how Gallop helped establish a
Performance Testing Center of Excellence (PTCoE) for a leading retailer which connects
1100 stores and 150,000 employees, feel free to visit our case studies.
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