Crispin, Lisa: Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams

Agile Testing

A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams

Lisa Crispin

Janet Gregory

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Crispin, Lisa.

Agile testing : a practical guide for testers and agile teams /

Lisa Crispin, Janet Gregory. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-53446-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-321-53446-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Computer software—

Testing. 2. Agile software development. I. Gregory, Janet. II. Title.

QA76.76.T48C75 2009

005.1—dc22

2008042444

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permissions, write to:

Pearson Education, Inc.

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501 Boylston Street, Suite 900

Boston, MA 02116

Fax (617) 671-3447

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-53446-0

ISBN-10: 0-321-53446-8

Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at R.R. Donnelley in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Second printing, March 2009

Dedication

To my husband, Bob Downing—you’re the bee’s knees!

—Lisa

To Jack, Dana, and Susan, and to all the writers in my family.

—Janet

And to all our favorite donkeys and dragons.

—Lisa and Janet

Table of Contents

Foreword by Mike Cohn

Foreword by Brian Marick

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Part I. Introduction

Chapter 1. What Is Agile Testing, Anyway?

Agile Values

What Do We Mean by “Agile Testing”?

A Little Context for Roles and Activities on an Agile Team

Customer Team

Developer Team

Interaction between Customer and Developer Teams

How Is Agile Testing Different?

Working on Traditional Teams

Working on Agile Teams

Traditional vs. Agile Testing

Whole-Team Approach

Summary

Chapter 2. Ten Principles for Agile Testers

What’s an Agile Tester?

The Agile Testing Mind-Set

Applying Agile Principles and Values

Provide Continuous Feedback

Deliver Value to the Customer

Enable Face-to-Face Communication

Have Courage

Keep It Simple

Practice Continuous Improvement

Respond to Change

Self-Organize

Focus on People

Enjoy

Adding Value

Summary

Part II. Organizational Challenges

Chapter 3. Cultural Challenges

Organizational Culture

Quality Philosophy

Sustainable Pace

Customer Relationships

Organization Size

Empower Your Team

Barriers to Successful Agile Adoption by Test/QA Teams

Loss of Identity

Additional Roles

Lack of Training

Not Understanding Agile Concepts

Past Experience/Attitude

Cultural Differences among Roles

Introducing Change

Talk about Fears

Give Team Ownership

Celebrate Success

Management Expectations

Cultural Changes for Managers

Speaking the Manager’s Language

Change Doesn’t Come Easy

Be Patient

Let Them Feel Pain

Build Your Credibility

Work On Your Own Professional Development

Beware the Quality Police Mentality

Vote with Your Feet

Summary

Chapter 4. Team Logistics

Team Structure

Independent QA Teams

Integration of Testers into an Agile Project

Agile Project Teams

Physical Logistics

Resources

Tester-Developer Ratio

Hiring an Agile Tester

Building a Team

Self-Organizing Team

Involving Other Teams

Every Team Member Has Equal Value

Performance and Rewards

What Can You Do?

Summary

Chapter 5. Transitioning Typical Processes

Seeking Lightweight Processes

Metrics

Lean Measurements

Why We Need Metrics

What Not to Do with Metrics

Communicating Metrics

Metrics ROI

Defect Tracking

Why Should We Use a Defect Tracking System (DTS)?

Why Shouldn’t We Use a DTS?

Defect Tracking Tools

Keep Your Focus

Test Planning

Test Strategy vs. Test Planning

Traceability

Existing Processes and Models

Audits

Frameworks, Models, and Standards

Summary

Part III. The Agile Testing Quadrants

Chapter 6. The Purpose of Testing

The Agile Testing Quadrants

Tests that Support the Team

Tests that Critique the Product

Knowing When a Story Is Done

Shared Responsibility

Managing Technical Debt

Testing in Context

Summary

Chapter 7. Technology-Facing Tests that Support the Team

An Agile Testing Foundation

The Purpose of Quadrant 1 Tests

Supporting Infrastructure

Why Write and Execute These Tests?

Lets Us Go Faster and Do More

Making Testers’ Jobs Easier

Designing with Testing in Mind

Timely Feedback

Where Do Technology-Facing Tests Stop?

What If the Team Doesn’t Do These Tests?

What Can Testers Do?

What Can Managers Do?

It’s a Team Problem

Toolkit

Source Code Control

IDEs

Build Tools

Build Automation Tools

Unit Test Tools

Summary

Chapter 8. Business-Facing Tests that Support the Team

Driving Development with Business-Facing Tests

The Requirements Quandary