Software development moves fast. Teams release updates weekly—sometimes even daily—while adapting to shifting requirements. In this environment, quality isn’t a separate step at the end. It’s something built into every part of development.
A Quality engineer plays a crucial role in making this happen. Instead of waiting for a finished product to test, they work alongside developers, product owners, and other stakeholders from the start. Automated tests catch issues early, while manual testing focuses on details automation might miss—like usability and edge cases.
Imagine a team building a customer-facing app. Instead of long release cycles, they push updates every week, responding to feedback in real time. Each code change triggers automated tests, keeping everything stable. Meanwhile, manual testing fine-tunes the experience, catching the issues only a human can spot.
In an agile setup, quality isn’t an afterthought. It’s a continuous effort.
This blog explores the role of a Quality engineer in this fast-paced environment, tackling common challenges and sharing best practices to keep software reliable without slowing development down.
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The role of QE in an agile project
What a Quality engineer does in an agile team
A QE is involved throughout the development process, making sure quality is built in from the start. The job goes beyond just running tests—it’s about creating a system where quality is a shared responsibility.
Instead of acting as a gatekeeper, the role is about collaboration. That means working closely with developers to ensure testable requirements, automating checks for quick feedback, conducting exploratory testing, and keeping communication open. Testing becomes an ongoing effort rather than a final step, ensuring that every code change is approached with quality in mind.
Key responsibilities
- Getting requirements right from the start
Joining sprint planning helps ensure user stories and acceptance criteria are clear. Defining testable requirements early reduces confusion and makes validation more effective.
- Testing early and often
Instead of waiting until the end of development, testing happens alongside coding. Reviewing test-driven development (TDD) efforts, running automated checks throughout the sprint, and catching issues early prevent last-minute delays.
- Automating tests for fast feedback
Frequent releases make automation essential. Test suites run with every code change, ensuring nothing breaks. While automation handles routine checks, manual testing focuses on tricky edge cases and the user experience.
- Exploring software like a real user
Automation confirms functionality, but real-world issues often go beyond test scripts. Exploratory testing helps uncover unexpected behaviors and usability problems that might disrupt the overall experience.
- Ensuring performance and security
It’s not just about making sure everything works—it also has to perform well and stay secure. Checking how the system handles heavy loads, monitoring response times, and identifying security risks early keep applications scalable and reliable.
- Working with the team, not just testing in isolation
Quality is a team effort. Open discussions about risks, testing strategies, and real-world usage ensure that features meet both technical and business needs.
- Keeping an eye on things after release
Testing doesn’t stop once a feature is live. Tracking production performance, analyzing logs, and reviewing user feedback help spot issues early and improve future releases. - At its core, this role isn’t just about finding bugs—it’s about making sure software is reliable, user-friendly, and ready for the real world.
Challenges
Agile development moves quickly, and testing has to keep up. Tight deadlines, changing requirements, minimal documentation, and complex integrations make quality a constant focus.
Staying adaptable, combining automation with exploratory testing, and collaborating closely with the team ensure reliability without slowing things down.
Tight deadlines
Sprints move fast, leaving little time for lengthy test cycles. Prioritizing high-impact areas helps keep testing effective.
Example: While working on an event ticketing platform, a last-minute schedule change left only two days for validation. Instead of testing everything, the team focused on ticket purchasing and seat selection—the most critical functions.
Changing requirements
Mid-sprint changes can disrupt planned testing. Quick adjustments help keep everything on track.
Example: During a food delivery app project, an unexpected payment gateway update required testing on short notice. Instead of starting over, existing test cases were adapted, ensuring core functionality remained intact.
Minimal documentation
With Agile’s focus on working software over detailed specs, testing often happens with limited information.
Example: While testing a fitness tracking app, only a basic user story was available. By collaborating with developers and the product owner, the team mapped out possible scenarios, ensuring proper coverage.
Integration complexities
Frequent code changes mean testing incomplete features while maintaining overall stability.
Example: A mobile banking app had continuous integration builds with partially developed features. Automated smoke tests checked key functions like login and fund transfers, allowing manual testing to focus on finer details.
Collaboration barriers
Poor communication can lead to missed scenarios and unexpected issues.
Example: In a healthcare application project, an API update wasn’t clearly communicated, causing critical test cases to be overlooked. Regular API updates and daily stand-ups improved coordination, reducing incidents in future releases.
Best practices for QE in Agile
Be actively involved in sprint planning
Sprint planning isn’t just about building—it’s about testing too. Getting involved early helps shape clear, testable user stories and acceptance criteria.
Focus on the most critical test cases
Not everything needs the same level of testing. Prioritizing high-risk areas first helps catch major issues early.
Explore beyond scripted tests
Even with well-defined test cases, real users behave unpredictably. Exploring the application outside scripted scenarios helps uncover unexpected issues.
Use collaboration tools wisely
Keeping track of progress and communicating with the team is easier with tools like Jira, Trello, and Slack. Sharing dashboards with tested features and defects keeps everyone informed.
Keep learning and adapting
Agile means constantly evolving. Staying updated on new tools and technologies helps improve testing effectiveness.
Why continuous testing matters
A Quality engineer keeps Agile development moving by testing alongside development, not after it. Instead of waiting until the end of a sprint, testing happens in small steps as features take shape. This helps teams:
- Catch and fix defects early, avoiding last-minute surprises.
- Deliver a working product at the end of every sprint.
- Feel confident that new updates won’t break existing functionality.
Example: In a social media app project, running daily smoke tests and exploratory testing twice a week ensured new features worked as expected while keeping everything stable.
Conclusion
A strong Agile team builds quality into every sprint, making it a natural part of the development process. The best results come when testers work alongside developers and product owners from the start, refining requirements, identifying risks early, and making sure automation supports fast, reliable releases.
With exploratory testing, automation, and continuous feedback, every change is validated in real time.
From personal experience, being actively involved in development discussions and understanding the intent behind features makes a huge difference. It’s not just about finding defects—it’s about helping shape a product that works seamlessly for users.
This approach ensures software meets both technical and user expectations—staying true to Agile’s core principle of delivering high-quality software with every release.