User Acceptance Testing (UAT) in Agile Practices

Businesses are continuously striving to achieve software products that are stable and deliver a seamless experience to the customer. To achieve this goal enterprise adopts various software testing practices and methodologies.  User Acceptance Testing under an agile environment ensures the delivery of a more stable and reliable product to customers which not only meets their business requirements but also provides great UX. 

What is UAT?

UAT is a type of software testing method where the product owner or customer verifies that the output of the project or software build meets the business requirements or not. It follows the waterfall model where UAT is conducted in the last stage of the software testing life cycle. 

What is UAT in agile practices?

UAT in agile is a much better way of conducting the test as it is more timely and rigorous as compared to traditional UAT. UAT in agile begins with developing user stories, reviewing sprints, and finally UAT sprints at end of the release. 

Conducting UAT in an agile environment allows for quicker iterations and constant feedback. This helps in delivering a more stable and reliable product to a customer that meets the customer’s business requirements. 

Agile UAT begins when user stories are defined. User stories describe the user, the feature customer wants to use, and finally, the reason the customer needs it.

As a (user),

I want (a feature)

So I can (reason of need/business benefit)

Story and acceptance test cases (also known as acceptance criteria) should be included in a user story. The Three Amigos is one technique for creating user stories. This approach puts together Business Representative, Developer, and Tester to serve all major constituencies. As a story is defined, so are the acceptance criteria. The UAT process starts with the emphasis on business acceptance requirements during the defining phase of the user story, rather than waiting until later in the project. While working on a project it is very helpful to determine acceptance criteria in the beginning phase itself. As it helps in keeping the teams focused and helps them to understand what is needed. It also reduces the chances of errors and reworks. 

The next step is the Sprint Review or Demo. Demonstrations are provided to the product owner or customer so that the teams involved in the UAT process can explain to the client what has been achieved and how it will help in meeting the customer’s business requirements. These demonstrations are interactive so they allow rapid feedback. The addition of the UAT task for each story is another strategy that many agile teams apply to their working process. As part of the development process, this guarantees another level of user engagement, thus increasing feedback and acceptance. 

Now finally as the third level, UAT Sprint is conducted an overall user acceptance test to complete the process. In this process, sprints are focused on UAT and help in identifying any defect which might occur in a later stage and cause rework. This helps in making sure that the customer checks the software fully before accepting it. 

What are the benefits of UAT in agile practices?

Customer or business owner is directly involved in project sprints which allows constant feedback

Transparency is maintained between all stakeholders as everyone works in close collaboration in agile

User stories are defined at the beginning of UAT which helps the teams in understanding what is expected from them. 

UAT in an agile environment allows quicker iterations.

Product quality is enhanced as constant feedback is received from the customer

UAT in agile is more rigorous, fast, and time-bound.

Conclusion: Integrating agile practices in the user acceptance test helps in building more stable and reliable products that meet the customer’s business requirements and delivers seamless customer experience. The involvement of a business owner or customer in the stage of the UAT process helps the team in getting constant feedback. User stories are defined in the starting phase of the UAT process keeps the teams focused. 

Leverage our end-to-end UAT testing services where we follow best practices of the agile method. Get in touch with our experts to know more. 

About the author: I am a technical content writer and I write articles on various IT related topics. In this article, I have tried to share my views on the User Acceptance Test (UAT) in agile practices.