a tester’s guide to collaborating with product owners

rent Session

Presented by:

Bob Galen Vel rs

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T7 Concur4/8/2014 12:45 PM

“A Tester’s Guide to Collaborating with Product Owners”

ocity Partne

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Bob Galen Velocity Partners

An agile methodologist, practitioner, and coach based in Cary, NC, Bob Galen helps guide companies in their adoption of Scrum and other agile methodologies and practices. Bob is a principal agile evangelist at Velocity Partners, a leading agile nearshore development partner; president of RGCG; and frequent speaker on software development, project management, software testing, and team leadership at conferences and professional groups. He is a Certified Scrum Coach, Certified Scrum Product Owner, and an active member of the Agile and Scrum Alliances. In 2013 Bob published Scrum Product Ownership–Balancing Value from the Inside Out. Reach him at [email protected].

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A Tester’s Guide to Collaborating with Product Ownerswith Product Owners

10 Keys to Delivering Value

Bob GalenPresident & Principal Consultant

RGCG, LLC [email protected]

IntroductionBob Galen

Independent Agile Coach (CSC) at RGCG, LLC

Principle Agile Evangelist at Velocity Partnersp g g y

Somewhere ‘north’ of 30 years overall experience ☺Wide variety of technical stacks and business domainsDeveloper first, then Project Management / Leadership, then TestingSenior/Executive software development leadership for 20 yearsPracticing formal agility since 2000XP, Lean, Scrum, and Kanban experienceFrom Cary, North CarolinaConnect w/ me via LinkedIn and Twitter @bobgalen

Copyright © 2014 RGCG, LLC 2

Connect w/ me via LinkedIn and Twitter @bobgalen

Bias Disclaimer:Agile is THE BEST Methodology

for Software Development…However, NOT a Silver Bullet!

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Outline – Myths & Realities

Introduction1 Bridge stories1. Bridge stories2. Help write Acceptance Tests3. DoD accountability4. Be the customer5. Ask questions6. Triad everywhere7. Cost of quality8 C t f t ti


8. Cost of testing9. Backlog as a “plan”10. Take the PO to lunch

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Simple pattern: The Product Owner ‘Owns’ the Product Backlog

Who owns the Backlog?

Backlog

Essential pattern

It Takes a Village to ‘Own’ the Backlog

5Copyright © 2014 RGCG, LLC 5

4 Quadrants of Product Ownership

1. Product ManagerProduct Roadmap

3. LeaderTrade-offs product balanceProduct Roadmap,

Collateral, Business Case / ROIDriving customer value

2. Project ManagerProduct Backlog (WBS)

Trade offs, product balanceStakeholder “management”Member of the team; partner with the Scrum Master

4. Business Analystg ( )Grooming & look-aheadVelocity-based, Release PlanningGoal setting, Budget

4. Business AnalystStory writingAcceptanceEmergence; Spikes


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#1, Bridge stories from Team to the Product Owner

The key here is guidingThe key here is guiding the translation and execution of the user story

Pull the Product Owner into the sprintShow incremental code


Shepherd sign-off

3 Amigos-based interactionsNail the Demo

#1, Bridge stories from Team to the Product Owner

Coined by George DinwiddieSwarming around the User Story by:

Developer(s)Tester(s)Product Owner


During “Grooming, Sprint Execution, Until…”Done”Similar to Ken Pugh’s -Triad

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#2, Help write solid Acceptance Tests

Consider themConsider themas “mini-contracts” or “mini-UAT”

3-5 minimal per storyBusiness constraintsFunctional and non-functional


functionalEdge and error cases Provide hints:

Design & Test

#2, Help write solid Acceptance Tests

As a dog owner, I want to sign-upg g pfor a kennel reservation over Christmas so that I get a confirmed spot

Verify individual as a registered pet ownerVerify that preferred members get 15% discount on basic service


Verify that preferred members get 25% discount on extended servicesand reservation priority over other membersVerify that past Christmas customers get reservation priorityVerify that declines get email with discount coupon for future servicesVerify that sign-up process takes less than 4 minutes

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#3, Hold everyone “accountable” to Definition of Done

It all starts in GroomingIt all starts in Grooming, thinking of the work cross-functionally and with DoD in mindContinue it in Sprint PlanningExecute consistently; no


Execute consistently; no exceptionsDeliver to “Done”

Ready-Ready

Prevents teams from taking on

The story is well-written; and has a minimum of 5 Acceptance Tests definedThe story has been sized to fit the teams velocity & sprint length: 1-13 pointstaking on

stories that are ill

groomed or defined

The team has vetted the story in several grooming sessions—it’s scope & nature is well understood If required, the story had a research-spike to explore (and refine) it’s architecture and design implicationsThe story is not “too complete”, around ~70% completeThe team understands how to approach the testing of the stories’ functional and non-functional aspectsAny dependencies to other stories and/or teams have been “connected” so that the story is synchronized and

Increases sprint success

been connected so that the story is synchronized and deliverableThe story aligns with the Sprints’ Goal and is end-to-end demonstrableIf a “Technical Story” the story has a “Technical PO” to provide guidance and sign-off


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#4, Represent the Customer

Don’t solveDon t solve “requirements”…solve “customer problems”Consider usageKISSDeliver value; highest i t & i it


impact & priorityEnd-to-end solutions

#4, Represent the Customer

The power of a MinimalThe power of a Minimal Marketable FeatureThe power of the PersonaObserve the Customer


Nordstrom Innovation Lap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szr0ezLyQHY

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#5, Ask questions?Be inquisitive?

Ask questionsAsk questionsRelentlessly, Constantly, Courageously

5 – WhysBusiness value?Lean investment

Just enough and just in


Just enough and just-in-time

Trust your instincts, craftDoes it make sense?

#5, Ask questions?Be inquisitive?


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#7, What about the Cost of Quality?

Meta-requirementsMeta requirementsSecurity, Performance, Maintainability

Automation investmentsAgile Automation Triangle

Inspections – pairingDoD maturity


DoD maturityAvoid rework?

Yes for product, no for experiments

Quality is a TEAM responsibility!

A Tapestry that Includes Threads for…

Things to do… DeploymentRegulatory

Features Value incrementsArchitectureDesignProcessQuality

g yDependencyRiskFeedbackCustomer timingTempo

QualityTesting

In a Context-Based fashion…

…Guiding us towards customer value


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#8, What about the Cost of Testing?

Risk-basedRisk basedAlways test what’s availableDon’t track coverage or timeSlack time for thinking &

ti it


creativityBalanced across the quadrants

3 Pillars of Agile Quality

Development & Test Automation

• Pyramid-based Strategy: (Unit + Cucumber +

Software Testing

• Risk-based testing: Functional & Non-Functional

Cross-Functional Team Practices

• Team-based Pairing

Selenium)

• Continuous Integration

• Attack technical infrastructure in the Backlog

• Visual Feedback –Dashboards

• Actively practice ATDD and BDD

• Test planning @ Release & Sprint levels

• Exploratory Testing

• Standards – checklists, templates, repositories

• Balance across manual, exploratory & automation

• Stop-the-Line Mindset

• Code Reviews & Standards

• Active Done-Ness

• Aggressive Refactoring of Technical Debt

• User Stories, “3 Amigo” based Conversations


• Whole Team Ownership of “Quality”• Building it ‘Right’; Building the ‘Right’ Thing

• Healthy – Agile Centric Metrics• Center of Excellence or Community of Practice

• Strategic balance across 3 Pillars; Assessment, Recalibration, and Continuous Improvement

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#9, The Backlog is a “Plan”help focus it towards Release!

Ask for and define aAsk for and define a Release TrainEncourage Release PlanningEstablish “hardening” activitiesI t ti il t


Integration milestones –working code

Release Train Management

Iterative model with a release targetg

Product centricFocused on a production push/release

Synchronized Sprints across teams

Some teams are un-synchronized, but leads to less efficient cross-team (product)

Notion of a “Hardening Sprint”Focused more on Integration & Regression testingAssumption that it’s mostly automatedEnvironment promotion

Copyright © 2014 RGCG, LLC

(p )interactions

Continuous Integration is the glue

Including automated unit and feature tests; partial regression

Define a final Hardening Sprint where the product is readied for release

Documentation, Support, Compliance, UAT, Training

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3 Tiered, Multi Method (Kanban & Scrum)Enterprise Workflow

Inception Construction TransitionElaborationEpicEpic

Epic

Kanban @Portfolio-level

Arch & Design Build & Test Cont. DeployAnalysis

Feature

Feature

EpicEpic

FeatureFeature

Feature

FeatureFeature

Kanban @Project-level

Product Backlog

Story Task

TaskTask

Task

TaskTaskTask

Sprint Backlog WIP Done

StoryStory

Story

Story

Story

Story

Scrum @Execution-

level

23Copyright © 2014 RGCG, LLC

#10, Get to know your Product Owner

Have lunchHave lunchDiscuss the competitive landscape, the MarketCustomer challengesMoSCoW in operationCommitments &


PressureVision & Mission; what does “success” look like?

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Wrapping up…

Helping the Product Owner to build the “Right Thing”And

Helping the Team to build “Things Right”


Contact Info

Bob GalenPrincipal Consultant,

RGalen Consulting Group, L.L.C.

Experience-driven agile focused training, coaching & consulting

Cell: (919) [email protected] www.rgalen.com

[email protected] www.velocitypartners.net

BlogsBlogsProject Times - http://www.projecttimes.com/robert-galen/BA Times - http://www.batimes.com/robert-galen/

Podcast on all things ‘agile’ - http://www.meta-cast.com/

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a tester’s guide to collaborating with product owners

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quadrants of product

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