Testing for agile teams (book summary)

This post is part of the "Testing for Agile Teams" series.

Incrementally delivering business value, through short iterations (SCRUM) and virtuous loops of feedback (XP). Roles' boundaries are blurred, everyone's focused on quality.

Testers help customers clarify requirements, turn those into tests that guide development, and provide a holistic viewpoint to the team.

Key Success Factors

Explanation below.

1. Use the whole-team approach

• The whole team takes responsibility for quality.
• You have a large variety of skills and experience levels focused on delivering value.
• The team develops testable code, right from the start.
• Try the "Power of Three" -- a tester, a programmer, and a business expert.

2. Adopt an agile testing mind-set

• On an agile team, programmers test and testers do everything at their reach to help the team deliver the best possible product.
• Focus on the team’s goals and help everyone do their best work.
• Always try the simplest approach. Focus on delivering value.
• Development should be people-centric and enjoyable.
• Continuously find better ways to work -- read books, blogs, go to meetups, communicate, try.

3. Automate regression testing

• Make time to do exploratory testing by automating everything else.
• Automating regression tests is a team effort (Agile Testing Quadrants + Test Automation Pyramid).
• It will be hard and hurt at first.

4. Provide and obtain feedback

• Provide constant feedback in order to keep the team on track.
• Ask developers if they get enough information from tests/examples.
• Ask customers if they feel their quality criteria are being met.

5. Build a foundation of core practices

• Continuous integration.
• Test environments.
• Manage technical debt.
• Working incrementally.
• Coding and testing are part of one process.
• Synergy between practices.

6. Collaborate with customers

• Clarify and prioritize requirements.
• Illustrate requirements with examples.
• Convert those examples into executable tests.
• Never get in the way against "Power of Three".

7. Look at the big picture

• Testers tend to look at the big picture, and usually from a customer point of view.
• Someone has to consider the impact to the larger system.
• Help your team take a step back now and then.

This post is a personal summary of a chapter from the book Agile Testing: A Practical Guide For Testers And Agile Teams. I'm sure you'll find that book useful too.