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Agile testing has been accepted worldwide as it is an important method when it comes to the production of high-quality products. Usability testing plays a crucial role in Agile Methodology so as to directly blend it into the development process to find any possible issues. This procedure allows the testers to timely recognize problems at every stage of the development process. Therefore, Agile usability testing has essentially become important for development lifecycles to move the product for quick release. If you want to know more about Agile usability testing, you can continue reading further as this article will help you to discover the Agile usability testing facts and different practices used for Agile usability testing.

What Are the Principles of Agile Usability Testing?

There are several principles of Agile usability testing, which are as follows:

• Agile teams carry out regular tests to ensure that the product is developing continuously.
• Testers offer continuous and quick feedback to the members of the team with respect to quality. This saves a lot of time and helps them to quickly develop the product without wasting any time.
• Agile usability testing is done by an entire team that involves Business Analysts, Developers, and Testers.
• Moreover, the software has been tested by the Agile team to make sure that the code is implemented in the right way. The team further detects the issues and fix them at the same time.
• The Agile team makes a reusable checklist to note current customer needs, instructions, and documented requirements.
• During the time of implementation, the evaluation of the product has been done by the Agile testers to give the product a final touch.
• Customers are given access to the product as the development progresses so that they can convey their requirements regarding the product, and the testers can do some modifications as per the customer's requirements.

Best Ways to Test the Product in Agile Framework

It is quite true that only thorough testing one can launch the perfect product as it leads to the improvement of the user experience. In fact, there are a lot of stages in Agile Methodology where the teams get an opportunity to test and develop the product. Move on to check the different practices that you can adopt to test the product in Agile methodology.

Creating an Informative Plan to Work as a Team

It is better to add the importance of making a simple and informative plan for usability testing so that you can share various ideas with your team as a part of the development process. It is all about operating as a team so as to describe what to be tested, how it is to be tested, and why it is to be tested as a whole. Besides, you can even make use of illustrations to explain the testing cycles in detail and make your team understand better.

Making a Script Before Testing

It is always wise to make a script or plan that includes step-by-step points before you conduct the test. You have to just follow the procedure that you have practiced by making a script at the time of doing the test, and it would definitely give you better results. Agile usability testing is nothing but structuring the tasks, and it helps the team to develop the product with good quality. This way, you can improve the user experience with the use of your application or product. When you make a script, you have to include important notes, test introduction, data of every task, and remarks as well.

Involving New Members for Better Testing

You should always involve new participants in the team to make the right decision regarding the product development. With the participation of new members in the Agile team, you can discuss the project using their ideas, and you can take the help of the HR department to recruit new people. On the other hand, you can even remotely recruit new members using remote testing tools such as usertesting.com or ethnio. These tools help to find participants and conduct the test.

When you recruit new participants, you should schedule the tests consecutively by allowing the participants to take quick breaks. This way, you can undertake testing with full dedication while carrying out other tasks in between. As the people are new to this project, you can provide them with a form to sign before the test by agreeing to your terms and conditions. On taking tests remotely, you have to ensure that the application is properly accessible for the participants.

Making Use of Templates for Smoother Process

There are certain templates that you can utilize for making the development process smoother as Agile usability testing includes a lot of repetitive tasks. A few of the templates that you can use comprises Test Notes, Testing Plan, Usability Test Story, Test Table, Findings Table, and more.

Carrying Out Small and Frequent Tests

If you carry out testing often, it will help you to focus on the testing of important things that includes tasks, scenarios, format, and objectives. If you make a mini-plan of these crucial things, it will make it easier for you to write the final report after testing. Furthermore, you can link each task to its goal to summarize whether they are met in every session or not.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is one of the crucial usability testing practices in Agile that includes evaluation of the user experience of a product or service using a set of metrics at various stages of a product's lifecycle. This practice necessarily comprises the collection of quantitative information that relates to the experience, and it is done to estimate the respective performance of the product against a meaningful standard. As an example, various UX metrics might be required to gather, like the number of clicks on a Submit button, the success rate for application completion, average time to make a purchase, and so on. It is possible to collect these UX metrics with the use of any quantitative methods, but the three methods that usually work best for benchmarking are surveys, quantitative usability testing, and analytics. 

Including Debriefing Session

A debriefing session is very important before you launch a product as it not only explains what is not working but also explains the reason for it. You have to bring your relevant findings with all the proper information related to the development of a particular product. In fact, you can unveil the reasons by focusing on the flow of every participant undertaken to complete their task and then point out the drawbacks.

Analysis

Right after the debriefing session, quick analysis is essential for Agile usability testing in which you have to make timely decisions and review and analyze the results as a whole part of the equation. It is quite a bad idea to jump to the final step without making an efficient analysis. Thus it's quite important to use the tools and techniques to locate the important actions and commands that were brought up during this phase to improve the product further 

A Final Step Back to Conclude

While doing Agile usability testing, you can discover many issues; therefore, it is very important to step back to conclude what minimum you can do to improve the UX. The strategy is implemented to concentrate on the smaller items within the next sprint no matter even if huge issues are not solved. You have to finally turn all the findings into stories by adding them to the backlog.

Final Words

Agile usability testing is all about making continuous sample tests of the product at every stage of the development process to improve user experience. During this session, you can maximize the quality and value of your product before it launches by taking the views of the customers. Above all, the above-mentioned practices save a lot of your money and time while developing a high-quality product to release it at the right time.

References:

1. https://uxmastery.com/best-practices-for-agile-ux-testing/
2. https://www.bitovi.com/blog/10-best-practices-usability-testing-within-agile-teams
3. https://www.globalapptesting.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-agile-testing 

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