Test Automation & Agile Test Quadrants

This blog briefly discusses the relationship between Test automation and Agile Test
Quadrants.

Test automation is generally defined as the use of special software (separate from the
software being tested) to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual
outcomes with predicted outcomes.

Agile Test Quadrants (introduced by Brian Marick and further worked upon by Lisa
Crispin) try to understand the relationship between the various forms of tests using 4
different quadrants:

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1.
2.
3.
4.

Quadrant 1: Technology-facing tests that support the team

Quadrant 2: Business-facing tests that support the team
Quadrant 3: Business-facing tests that critique the product
Quadrant 4: Technology-facing tests that critique the product

Using the Quadrants help you accomplish goals related to supporting the team,
critiquing the product, and meet the business and technological needs.

Following are some details on what each quadrant is made up of, what tools might be
used in each, and what is the purpose of each.

Q1 Technology-facing tests that support the team

Q1 is associated with Automated testing, and covers the tests such as Unit tests, API
tests, Web Services testing, and Component Tests. The main benefit of this quadrant is
that these tests help improve the design without adversely affecting the functionality.
The main objective is to improve the Quality of the product by means of proper source

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code management, and a seamlessly integrated development environment. A few tools

used are TeamCity, Eclipse, xUnit, IntelliJ Idea, etc.

This is a very important quadrant as it helps teams get together to identify the pain
points. In case you cannot cope up with the activities of this quadrant, managing the
other quadrants will prove to be even more difficult.

Q2 Business-facing tests that support the team

Q2 is associated with Automated & Manual testing, and covers tests such as Functional
Testing, Story Tests, Prototypes, and Simulations. Q2 helps formulate the right set of
questions and thus drive tests that are properly aligned with the business. Q2 thrives in
an iterative environment, where skilled testers collaborate with clients and understand
the responsibility of delivering a quality product. Q2 involves a lot of brainstorming
sessions, and thus MindMap may be used as a regular tool along with Visio for flow
diagrams.

Behavior-driven development tools and frameworks as Cucumber, and easyB, and UI

testing tools/libraries/frameworks such as Selenium, QTP, Robot Framework, etc. also
serve as good tools of use.

Q3 Business-facing tests that critique the product

Q3 is associated with Manual testing, and covers tests such as Exploratory Testing,
Scenario-based Testing, Usability Testing, User Acceptance Testing, and Alpha/Beta
testing. Q3 is about evaluating the Product and its use by means of demos, feedback,
checking the actual user experience, etc. Q3 involves critical thinking and in depth
observation of multiple scenarios (usability, API, Web), etc.

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While Q3 may use some of the tools used in Q2, it involves a lot more intuition and
critical thinking along with interaction with customers. In addition, it also requires the
use of Simulators and Emulators.

Q4 Technology-facing tests that critique the product

Q4 is associated with Automated Tools, and covers tests such as Performance & Load
Testing, Security Testing, and *ility testing Stability, Reliability, Scalability,
Maintainability, Compatibility, etc. Q4 tests are performed based on priorities they
may begin early in the SDLC phase, or be introduced later on. Some common examples
of tools used in Q4 are jConsole, jProfiler, Loadrunner, jMeter, jUnitPerf, etc.

Conclusion

The common ingredient in all the 4 quadrants is the need of a team working together
towards a common goal of achieving the best product quality and optimum customer
satisfaction.

If you are a large organization trying to implement an automation strategy, contact

Gallops team of test automation experts. Our tool agnostic test automation framework
consists of a huge library of keywords that help you build your tests quickly and
efficiently, and seamlessly integrate with leading commercial and open source tools.

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Tags: agile test quadrants, Agile testing, alpha beta testing. Unit testing, api testing, component
tests, exploratory testing, functional testing, Gallop Review, Gallop Solutions, Performance Testing,
Quality Assurance Testing, scenario based testing, Security Testing, software testing company,
Software Testing services, story tests, Test Automation, usability testing, user acceptance testing,
web services testing

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