Towards a Shift in Regression Test Suite Development Approach in Agile

Objectives: From the literature review, it is evident that the concept of “regression testing” inherited in agile software testing originates from software maintenance practices. Therefore, the existing algorithms for regression testing revolve around software maintenance principles rather than agile methodology. This paper aims to evaluate the degree of fitness of the existing regression test-suite development algorithms for performing the regression testing in agile. Methods: This paper performs a systematic literature review of research work published from 2006 to 2018, which includes a survey of the existing regression testing algorithms to identify and overcome the challenges associated with them while performing regression testing in agile. This paper considers the four research questions into scope for analyzing the suitability of the existing regression test-suite development algorithm for performing regression testing under agile methodology. Further, this paper proposes an approach to develop a suitable regression test-suite for regression testing under agile methodology. Results: Since four new key challenges were found to be associated with it, the current regression test-suite development algorithm was found unsuitable for performing the regression testing under agile methodology. Conclusion: The current regression test-suite development algorithms are aligned with software maintenance principles rather than agile methodology. In addition, the newly proposed approach for regression test-suite development was found to be easily adaptable by agile teams as it aligns with agile methodology principles. Finally, for developing a suitable regression test-suite to perform regression testing under agile methodology, this paper recommends adopting the agile principle using the newly proposed approach.