time to smash the boundaries the evolution of an effective agile team

Time to smash the boundaries: The evolution of an effective agile team

Derrick Qin Senior QA SpecialistPavel Shmueli QA Specialist

Who we are

Pavel ShmueliQA Specialist at SeekPavel.Shmueli@gmail.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelshmelkin

Derrick QinSenior QA Specialist at SeekQin.Haidi@gmail.comhttps://au.linkedin.com/in/derrick-qin-94640437

A few words about ourselvesA couple of years ago Derrick and Pavel did:

Automation testing of various systems and different platforms

Manual Exploratory testing

T-shape peopleThe vertical bar on the T represents the depth of related skills and expertise in a single field. The horizontal bar is the ability to collaborate across disciplines with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than one's own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shaped_skills

Picture by James Royal-Lawson

Case Study: Our process last year

Propose feature Code is ready, dev is done

Devops helps to set up environment

TestingTesting in production

Deployment to production

Product manager/Business Analyst Development Team Devops Team

Test TeamDev/Devops TeamsTest Team

Case study: Last year - Downsides

Bottlenecks Slow way to production

People sit in comfort zone

Very few options for upskill

We want to Change!!

Faster Delivery

Better Quality

Individual Development

Bottlenecks

Slow way to production

People sit in comfort zone

Very few options for upskill

Our Company wants

Build high performing

teamsDeliver the customer

value/ product faster

Continuous delivery/

integration

To develop broken comb

people

Broken comb people“Broken Comb people are continuously striving to learn and improve and to go deeper than just the surface, whatever discipline they are learning about.”

~ Brittany Hunter, Software Designer

How we changed: BehavioursMindset change (we stopped being role minded!)

we’re not just Devs/QAs/BAs/Devopswe swap our ’hats’ easilya lot of pairing between all of us

People started to share their skills

People are keen to learn new skills

How we changed: Challenges

People are not comfortable to change

No time to implement the new approach

How we changed: Gains

Bottlenecks

Slow way to production

People sit in comfortable zone

Very few options for upskill

No key person dependency

Quicker way to production

People swap the zones/get new

skills

Plenty of options to learn

Better collaboration

Team members can challenge

each other

We understand better what we

actually do

Case study: future

Card on Agile wall to add/fix

functionalityKick-off/Analysis Development/Code

Review

TestingTesting in production

Deployment to production

Anyone Anyone Anyone

AnyoneAnyoneAnyone

Future we’re moving toEveryone is capable to pick up any piece of work based on projects needs

Take Baby Steps

Don’t be afraid to challenge existing status quo

Encourage the team to change, learn/upskill

Give them the time to learn Allow time to adopt new culture/approach

Ask them to be open and share

Encourage everyone to participate and be actively involved

Q & A

Current state ‘swaps’Role Front End

DevBack End Dev

Devops QA BA Product Manager

Front End Dev

Back End Dev

Devops QA BA Product Manager