Seven Key Factors

for

Agile Testing Success

Janet Gregory, DragonFire Inc.

With material from Lisa Crispin
Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Takeaways
Keys to agile testing success Ideas f overcoming b i Id for i barriers Practical steps you can take today
Even on non-agile team

.. But, first a bit of agile so everyone is on the same page

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

An agile tester collaborates with the rest of the g team to deliver the best possible product

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Look at the Big Picture

Use the Whole Team Approach

Adopt an Agile Testing Mindset Collaborate with Customer

Key Success Factors

Automate Regression Testing Provide and Obtain Feedback o de a d Obta eedbac

Build a Foundation of Core Agile Practices

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

The fi t Th first success factor is the whole t f t i th h l team approach. The whole team is focused on quality.

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

The Whole Team Approach

Team committed to testing, quality Daily collaboration Testers get support, training g g Anyone can do any task Testers transfer testing knowledge Get the right people

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Whos On Your Team?

Separate test team?
How could you integrate more with developers? How could you collaborate more with customers?

Does your team have all the roles skills roles, needed?

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

# 2 - Adopt an agile tester mindset p g Instead of

Were here to break the software!

Think
What can we do to help deliver the software successfully?

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Agile Testing Mindset

Apply agile p pp y g principles and values p Continually improve Not the Quality Police N t th Q lit P li or gate-keepers t k

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

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What Can a Tester Do?

Be Proactive Try new things Dont sit and wait for things to come to you Take T k responsibility f your own personal ibilit for l development
Read books Join the yahoo testing group

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

The 3rd success factor is Automate your regression testing testing. That will enable you to do more exploratory testing.

Mike Cohn s Test Cohns Automation Pyramid

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Regression Test Automation Issues?

Make it a team problem to solve Get over hump of pain hump pain Unit tests have best ROI GUI smoke tests option for legacy code
But choose tool carefully
Effo ort

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Time

13

Regression Test Automation Issues?

Drive development with tests Design for testability Team chooses tools Team effort Start simple

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

14

Agile Testing Quadrants

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

15

Providing and obtaining feedback is the 4th success factor. Testers provide feedback throughout their testing efforts efforts. They collaborate with customers to obtain information.
Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Feedback
Core agile value Team uses feedback to improve p Testers are expert feedback providers Feedback lets team make course corrections

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

17

Focusing on Feedback
Big Visible Charts Retrospectives Email test results from build process Take advantage of short iterations Discoveries during exploratory testing Collaboration with users, customers

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

18

Make information visible

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Building a foundation of core agile practices is success factor 5.

Continuous integration Test environments Manage technical debt Working incrementally Make coding & testing part of one process Synergy between practices

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Another core value is simplicity. Ask what is the i l t thing th t th simplest thi that can possibly work? ibl k?

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

21

Implementing Core Practices

Self-organizing team Plan stories/tasks to build infrastructure Refactoring iterations Baby steps address one thing at a time

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

22

Number 6 is Customer Collaboration.

Set priorities Elicit examples Power of 3

Ask what problem are they trying to solve? Work with the customer to understand their true need y Identify risks so customer can make best decision
Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Getting Customers on Board

Build trust Learn their jobs Ask for concrete examples scenarios examples,
How will you use this? Whats the Wh t th worst th t can happen? t that h ?

Facilitate developer-customer communication

But dont get in the way

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

24

Last, but not least g is Looking at the Big Picture.

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Look at the Big Picture

Use business-facing tests and examples
to drive development

Not only stories, but features, and workflow Use real world test data Think about impacts on other areas Use exploratory testing Use the Agile Testing Quadrants

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

26

Whole Team Mindset Change Automate Regression Tests

Core Agile g Practices

Customer Collaboration

Provide Feedback
Big Picture View
Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

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As A an agile t t stretch il tester, t t h yourself and expect changes in y g your new agile life.

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Now Available
Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams
By Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory

www.agiletester.ca
My contact info www.janetgregory.ca j t http://janetgregory.blogspot.com/ j janet@agiletester.ca @ g
Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire 29

Agile Testing Resources

www.lisacrispin.com agile-testing@yahoogroups.com http://www.exampler.com - Brian Maricks web site www.testobsessed.com www.testingreflections.com t ti fl ti www.mountaingoatsoftware.com Mike Cohns web site ( (and all his books) ) Agile Manifesto: http://agilemanifesto.org/ Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck, Lean Software Development, 2003 Addi D l t Addison-Wesley W l Jean Tabaka, Collaboration Explained, 2006 Addison-Wesley Lisa Crispin and Tip House Testing Extreme Programming House, Programming, 2002 Addison-Wesley
Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire

Any A more questions ? ti

Copyright 2009 Janet Gregory, DragonFire