agile testing and the role of the agile tester kwsqa 2009-11-25

8/7/2019 Agile Testing and the Role of the Agile Tester KWSQA 2009-11-25

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Agile Testing

Two worldscolliding!

This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License, whichmeans you can share and adapt it, including commercial and derivative works, as long as

you include attribution to Declan Whelan.

Declan Whelan

[email protected]
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ca/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ca/


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Scrum Overview

http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum_figures
http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum_figureshttp://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum_figures


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Scrum Team

ProductOwner

Feature

definition Release dates

Single decisionpoint

Accepts orrejects work

ROI

Scrum Master

Represents

management Removes

obstacles

Ensures Scrum

process Servant leader

Team

Self organizing

Cross-functional

Estimates

Tracks

Gets er done


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The Team


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Agile Testing Conundrums


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Conundrum #1

Unit Testing by developers is given a high profile

Developers Test Their Own Code

This is just marking your own homework

Oxymoron?

Unit Tests are just the first of many quality strategies

Axiom?

6 SQS Group Limited | Agile Quality Management - Oxymoron or Axiom? |

Source: David Evans


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Conundrum #2

Testers and developers are encouraged to work together

Developers and Testers are co-dependent

Independence is fundamental to quality governance

Oxymoron?

The whole team share the goal of creating quality software

Axiom?


Source: David Evans


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Conundrum #3

Acceptance Tests are defined and agreed up-front

Developers know the acceptance tests

They will only write code to make the tests pass!

Oxymoron?

They wont write code that makes the tests fail

Axiom?


Source: David Evans


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Conundrum #4

Requirements seem to change with the weather

No Signed-Off Requirements

I cant possibly certify that the requirements have been met

Oxymoron?

Each requirement is defined by its acceptance tests:these are negotiated with and confirmed by the customer

Axiom?


Source: David Evans


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Conundrum #5

IEEE829 Test Plans are in short supply on agile projects

No Test Plan

Failing to plan is planning to fail! How will we know what to test?

Oxymoron?

The Test Plan is implied in the product backlog:everything we build, we test

Axiom?


Source: David Evans


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Conundrum #6

Test Manager is not a role that exists in Agile literature

No Test Manager (or Test Management Tool)

So how can we possibly manage testing?

Oxymoron?

Testers == team; tests == specifications;...they dont need separate management

Axiom?


Source: David Evans


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What is Quality?

Value to some person(s).

Jerry Weinberg:


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Testing Schools of Thought

How much has

been tested?

Objectivity

Branch ofCS/Math

Analytic

Controlled process

Formal rules

Standards &certification

Conformance focus

Factory

Focus on QA vs.

testing

Processwatchdog

Risk driven

QA signoffQuality

Skilled mental activity

People set context

Testing provides information

Value driven

Context Driven

Agile Helps

Set Context

Source: http://www.qaiasia.com/bpw/innerpages/documents/Process_Improvement/Model_and_Framework/PI_007-shrinivas_kulkarni.pdf
http://www.qaiasia.com/bpw/innerpages/documents/Process_Improvement/Model_and_Framework/PI_007-shrinivas_kulkarni.pdfhttp://www.qaiasia.com/bpw/innerpages/documents/Process_Improvement/Model_and_Framework/PI_007-shrinivas_kulkarni.pdfhttp://www.qaiasia.com/bpw/innerpages/documents/Process_Improvement/Model_and_Framework/PI_007-shrinivas_kulkarni.pdfhttp://www.qaiasia.com/bpw/innerpages/documents/Process_Improvement/Model_and_Framework/PI_007-shrinivas_kulkarni.pdf


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Quality via Done, Done

Designed Refactored

Unit Tested

Acceptance Tested Explored

DocumentedCoded Checked In

CI Built


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Key Agile Testing Practices

Source: Elizabeth Hendrickson - http://testobsessed.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/atqlblf-pnsqc2009.pdf


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Why Automate Tests?

Provides safety net

Supports rapid iterations

Provides footholds to keep notching upward Provides rapid feedback

Focuses effort on what is valuable

Frees people to do their best work

Need to balance automation costs against delivered value


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Dont automate thecommunication!


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Use a Low-Tech Testing Dashboard

Check outhttp://www.satisfice.com/presentations/dashboard.pdffor ideas on building a low test testing dashboard.
http://www.satisfice.com/presentations/dashboard.pdfhttp://www.satisfice.com/presentations/dashboard.pdfhttp://www.satisfice.com/presentations/dashboard.pdf


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C

ritiquesProduct

SupportsDevelopm

ent

Brian Maricks Agile Testing Matrix

Functional Tests

Customer Tests

Story Tests/Examples

User Acceptance Tests

Exploratory Tests

Usability Tests

Unit TestsIntegration Tests

Performance TestsLoad Tests

Customer Facing

Technology Facing

Automate

Tools

Manual

Q1

Q2 Q3

Q4

Automate


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C

ritiquesProduct

S

upportsDevelopm

ent

Tester Activities

Product Specifications

Test Ideas

Exploratory Testing

UAT Design

Exploratory Testing

Usability Testing

Automation Support

Unit Testing

Test Scripts

TestingTest Analysis

Customer Facing

Technology Facing

Product Owner

Collaboration

IT

Collaboration

Customer

Collaboration

Developer

Collaboration

Q1

Q2 Q3

Q4


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Unit Tests

Acceptance

Tests

Exploratory

Testing

System Tests

Sprint 3 Sprint 4 Sprint 5

Writing storiesAcceptance testsTest ideas


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Testing Pyramid

Source: Patrick Wilson Welsh - http://patrickwilsonwelsh.com/?p=32

TCO - $

% automated work


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A Common Reality

Source: Patrick Wilson Welsh - http://patrickwilsonwelsh.com/?p=32


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What is a Bug?

In an Agile context, I define a

bug as behavior in a Done

story that violates validexpectations of the Product

Owner.

Elizabeth Hendrickson

Source: http://testobsessed.com/2009/03/13/handling-bugs-in-an-agile-context/


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Agile Team

Handling Bugs

Find

Analyse

Fix

Verify


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Defect Tracking Systems

High performing agileteams dont need them!


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If we honour Done, Done we just fix them now!

If a finding is deemed low priority and there are

others things of higher priority then add it to

product backlog If we are finding, fixing and defects quickly then

clearly our process works so why do we need a

system to tell us that?

If a system is for CYA then the team has deeper

problems

Defect Tracking Systems

Source: http://testobsessed.com/2009/03/13/handling-bugs-in-an-agile-context/


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Agile Testing Success Factors

Collective ownership

Sit together!Testers are part

of the team

Information providers not Quality Police

Focus on team goals & customer value

Rapid, high bandwidth feedback

Agile testing

mindset

Automate tests wherever practical

Need rapid feedbackAutomate tests

Balance against developer focus ontechnical implementation

Use agile test matrix as guide

Look at the bigpicture

Source: http://www.agiletester.ca/
http://www.agiletester.ca/http://www.agiletester.ca/


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Agile Testing Success Factors

Session-based testing

Test automation

Informative workspace

Foundation ofcritical practices

Collaborate with customers

Collaborate within teamCollaborate

Team retrospectives Personal training: reading, blogs,

local QA groups, session debriefs

Continuallyimprove

Source: http://www.agiletester.ca/
http://www.agiletester.ca/http://www.agiletester.ca/


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Agile Testing Books

Agile Testing: The Tester Role on an Agile

Project

Lisa Crispin, Janet Gregory

Test Driven: Practical TDD and Acceptance

TDD for Java Developers

Lasse Koskela


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Web Blog Sites

http://www.exampler.com (Brian Marick)

http://testobsessed.com (Elizabeth Hendrickson)

http://www.developsense.com (Michael Bolton)

http://www.satisfice.com (James Bach) http://www.kohl.ca/blog (Jonathon Kohl)

http://blogs.stpcollaborative.com/matt (Matt Heusser)

http://www.agiletester.ca (Lisa Crispin, Janet Gregory)
http://www.exampler.com/http://testobsessed.com/http://www.developsense.com/http://www.satisfice.com/http://www.kohl.ca/bloghttp://blogs.stpcollaborative.com/matthttp://www.agiletester.ca/http://www.agiletester.ca/http://blogs.stpcollaborative.com/matthttp://www.kohl.ca/bloghttp://www.satisfice.com/http://www.developsense.com/http://testobsessed.com/http://www.exampler.com/

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