There have been challenges in the adoption of the Agile principles (an Agile Test Strategy) and Scrum Framework particularly with poor quality of the delivered software. This has resulted in delays and a mismatch of the expectations of stakeholders and delivery teams. There is no specific mention of testing or quality assurance in Agile or Scrum; it is implied as an integral part of the principles and framework. This has caused some confusion resulting in inconsistent approaches to quality management and testing. Often formal testing has been reduced to ad hoc ‘try it and see’ during a sprint. This loses the testing rigour that delivers quality by use of industry accepted full lifecycle testing.

• “Automated testing is easy using our tool!”
• “You just record your scripts and away you go! No coding is necessary."
• “Using this tool to automate your tests will reduce your costs and head count."

How many times have we sat across the table from tool vendors telling us this?! The truth is, automated regression testing is not easy, it takes the right strategy and planning to give you a fighting chance of getting it right. In our experience of working with clients who have tried to automate their testing, there are a number of common factors that caused them to fail to meet their intended objectives or give them any cost savings.