Developer Role in Regression Testing
While the entire Scrum team works together to handle regression testing, what do the developers do for the process? Testing is normally handled by quality assurance technicians. Developers just write new code, so why should they care about regression testing?
When writing new code, developers need to be mindful of how old code works. By gaining a full understanding of how the foundation code works, developers can make changes without breaking old features. This can be done in a number of different ways.
If there is a technical specification for a feature, developers should be careful to follow it closely. Even in the absence of a spec, developers might consult the previous developer for a feature. To avoid breaking code, one developer could ask the previous developer for insight on a program to see how it works. This reduces the risk of breaking functionality that a developer doesn’t understand.
Before committing new code to a repository, developers should test related features. Just because a feature they’ve added or created works, doesn’t mean that other features in a program still do. It is best to run through these quickly, to avoid easily detected errors. While quality assurance technicians do most of the serious testing, catching errors before software goes to QA can also save time.
Regression testing is beneficial to any form of product development, including Scrum teams in Agile development. Even though developers are typically not responsible for testing, they have an important role in regression testing. If developers do their part to minimize errors and fix issues quickly, it improves the software overall and saves time for everyone on a Scrum team.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: