Regression Testing in Remote and Hybrid Software Teams: An Exploratory Study of Processes, Tools, and Practices
This study provides insights into how software quality assurance, specifically regression testing, adapts to remote and hybrid work models for software development teams and organizations.
This study explored how regression testing is conducted in remote and hybrid software teams, finding that while core phases remain, execution relies more on documentation, automation, and tool integration for asynchronous collaboration. Communication and coordination challenges were addressed through standardized reporting, shared repositories, and traceability mechanisms.
Remote and hybrid work have transformed how software development teams organize, communicate, and assure quality. This study investigates how regression testing is performed and experienced under these distributed conditions. Using qualitative interviews with twenty software professionals from diverse organizations, we analyzed how regression testing processes, tools, and coordination practices adapt to remote and hybrid environments. The results show that while the core phases of regression testing remain stable, their execution increasingly depends on documentation, automation, and tool integration to support asynchronous collaboration. Communication and coordination challenges were mitigated through standardized reporting, shared repositories, and traceability mechanisms that replaced informal co-located interactions. These findings reveal regression testing as a socio-technical practice shaped by the interaction between human collaboration and digital infrastructure. Our study contributes to understanding how software quality assurance evolves under remote conditions and offers practical implications for teams and organizations adopting hybrid work models.