1. The document discusses testing in an agile context, focusing on Scrum and Kanban methodologies. It describes the roles of product owners, scrum masters, and team members in Scrum. 2. Testing is an integral part of agile projects from the start, with testers involved continuously to provide early feedback. Automated testing is emphasized, with a focus on shifting left to write tests early. 3. Challenges for testers include minimal documentation, early involvement without detailed requirements, and expanded skillsets. Success comes from collaboration, a foundation in core practices like automation, and obtaining continuous feedback.

1. Testing and Agile
Gitte Ottosen
Gitte.ottosen@sogeti.dk
@godtesen

2. Sogeti Profile
• Sogeti is a leading provider of structured testing solutions
• Part of the Sogeti Group, which brings together more than
20,000 professionals in 15 countries and is present in over
100 locations in Europe, USA and India
• Creators of the globally recognized methodologies TMap
NEXT ® and TPI NEXT®
• Well established cooperation with HP, IBM and Microsoft
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3. Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
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The agile world
The proces – short presentation of SCRUM and Kanban
The test role in agile
Testing in agile

4. The Agile World

5. One Way of Looking at Agile 
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6. The Agile Manifest
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping
others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions
Working software
Customer collaboration
Responding to change
over
over
over
over
processes and tools
comprehensive doc.
contract negotiation
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on
the left more.
Reference
Kent Beck, Mike Beedle, Arie van Bennekum, Alistair Cockburn
Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, James Grenning, Jim Highsmith
Andrew Hunt, Ron Jeffries, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Robert C. Martin
Steve Mellor, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, Dave Thomas
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7. The Agile Perspective
• Processes and tools
• Comprehensive documentation
• Contract negotiation
• Individuals & interactions
• Working software
• Customer collaboration
• Responding to change
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• Following a plan
OVER

8. The Agile Principles
• Highest priority is to satisfy the customer through
early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
• Welcome changing requirements, even late
in development. Agile processes harness change for the
customer's competitive advantage.
• Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of
weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the
shorter timescale.
• Business people and developers must work together
daily throughout the project.
• Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need, and
trust them to get the job done.
• The most efficient and effective method of conveying
information to and within a development team is face-toface conversation.
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9. The Agile Principles cont.
• Working software is the primary measure of progress.
• Agile processes promote sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to
maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good
design enhances agility.
• Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work
not done--is essential.
• The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge
from self-organizing teams.
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become
more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior
accordingly.
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10. Implementations
SCRUM and KANBAN

11. Major Agile Methods
Scrum
• Iterative and incremental
• Focus on change
• Continous improvement
Kanban
• Similar to Scrum, but no iterations
• Focus on flow
• Minimizes work in progres
XP
• More technical than Scrum and Kanban
• Frequent "releases" in short development cycles
• Test Driven Development
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12. SCRUM in a Slide
24
hours
3-4
weeks
Product Backlog
Prioritized by customer
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Sprint Backlog
Broken down by
SCRUM team.
Testet product ready
for release

13. Key Roles and Responsibilities
Product Owner
•
•
•
•
•
Owns the business case and there by the profitability of the product
Decides what features to implement
Prioritizes features according to the business case
Provides input to the planning and on a day to day basis
Accepts or rejects work results
Scrum Master
•
•
•
•
•
Helps the team do the best work it possibly can
Owns the process and organizes ceremonies
Removes any impediments to progress
Shields the team from external interferences
Works with Product owner on maintaining the Product Backlog
Team Member
•
•
•
•
Cross-functional, seven plus/minus two members
Responsible for planning iterations and committing to assignments
Selects the best possible way to reach the iteration goal (with in project
guidelines)
Self organizing
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14. Scrum Artifacts
Product Backlog
•
•
•
Features
Bugs
Technical work
Sprint Backlog
•
•
•
Features
Stories
Tasks
Burndown Charts
•
•
•
Remaining work
Completed tasks
Ideal burndown
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15. A Couple of Important Words
• Definition of ready
• Definition of done
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16. SCRUM Board
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17. Help
work to
flow
Kanban
Next
(4)
Analysis
(3)
Ongoing
Development
(3)
Done
Definition of Done:
- nnn
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Acceptance
(2)
Ongoing
Ongoing
Done
Definition of Done:
- nnn
Done
Definition of Done:
- nnn
Production

18. What Changes With Agile
Feedback
Quality
Adaption
Empowerment
Visibility
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•Faster delivery of business benefits
•Reduced risk through early delivery
•Higher quality of deliverables through continuous testing
•Continuous learning and improvement
•Iterative planning and communication
•Improved teamwork and morale through empowerment and
self organisation
•Business have control over priorities through continuous
collaboration
•More accurate reporting through delivery of working product

19. Traditional vs Agile Projects
Plan driven
Agile
Change
Manage & control it
Change is inevitable –
embrace and expect
it
Planning/test design
Comprehensive
upfront plans/test
design
Plan/design as you go
Documentation
Can be heavy
Minimised - Only as
much as necessary
Handoffs
Formal entry/exit
criteria
Team Collaboration
Test Automation
System level built by
tool specialists,
created after code is
‘done’
All levels, built by
anyone, an integral
part of the project
Source: Elizabeth Hendrickson
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20. Test in an Agile Context

21. The word on the web!
…We need to step away from the nagging position we have in a waterfall process and
become more active in the process of developing the software. Active does not mean
that we should be sitting down hammering in code, but we should
be involved from the beginning and be giving the developers feedback instantly on
how the new feature works,instead of complaining at the end when everything is
built….
…in agile testing you need to start to execute tests fast. Having working software
early is a key aspect, and this means you have to have testable software early…
…testing has to become a natural part of an agile project and not just a phase after
The developers have stopped coding and before customers receives their software.
It’s about reaching the same goal as a team, i.e. to deliver working software within
as short a space of time as possible…
….testing, quality is the team’s responsibility. The test analysts now have a different
role. In addition to testing, they have to coach business representatives and
developers.
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22. Role of the Tester – Challenges and Experiences
•
Full Integration of testers into development team
–
–
–
–
–
Just another role in the team
Clarify roles (tester define) – collaborative
Co-locate
Consult on good testing
Early involvement – a very positive experience!
•
Testing without detailed requirements
•
Minimising test documentation
•
Tester skillset
– Communicate, communicate, communicate
– Early test design - ‘Test Driven Development’?
– Experienced based techniques -Exploratory testing
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– Lightweight, minimise unnecessary detail and duplication,
multipurpose, checklists, risk lists, Wikis,
– May need to develop programming skills or
– Developers automate the tests on testers behalf
– Opportunities for testers – analysis, programming, etc.

23. Role of Tester
• Involved continuously from start…e.g.
– Facilitate communication between the technical & business
stakeholders
– Support early validation of requirements
– Help the Customer/business stakeholders define acceptance
criteria
– Create automated acceptance tests
• Or define for developers to script
– Expand scope of ‘acceptance’ tests
– Advise the team about overall risks and trends
– Perform manual/exploratory tests
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24. Testing Within a Sprint
Automated
acceptance/
story based
tests
Manual
Exploratory
Tests
Represent Executable
requirements
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Automated
Unit Tests
Represent Executable
design specifications
Provides supplementary
feedback

25. Automation
Manual
testing
GUI
Test
Manual testing
Acceptance Test
(api)
Unit Test
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Unit Test

26. Context is Everything…
Manue
l test
GUI
Test
Adapt the Test Pyramid
to you needs
Accept Test
(api lag)
End to
End Test
Unit Test
Configuration
File structure
Permissions
Data integrity
Component
Integration Test
Source: Lisa Crispin
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27. Automatic
Business-facing
Explorative test
Scenario test
Usability test
UAT
Pilot test
Q2 Q3
Functional test
Story test
Proto types
Simulations
Q1 Q4
Unit test
Component test
Non-functional
(response,
load…)
Security
Technology-facing
Manual
Critique product
Supports the team
Manual&
automatic
Tools
Source: Brian Marick
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28. Is It Enough? – Remember the Big Picture
Existing System
Feature
Feature
Think about the testing quarants
Unit test
Component test
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Functional test
Story test
Proto types
Simulations
Explorative test
Scenario test
Usability test
UAT
Pilot test
Non-functional
(response,
load…)
Security

29. Is It Enough? – Remember the Big Picture
Existing System
Feature
Feature
Think about the testing quarants
Unit test
Component test
© Sogeti
Functional test
Story test
Proto types
Simulations
Explorative test
Scenario test
Usability test
UAT
Pilot test
Non-functional
(response,
load…)
Security

30. Typical agile test/quality related challenges
Non-functional
issues
Integration
Testing
Developer buy-in
for shared
quality
ownership
Distributed
development
Role of the
tester and test
manager
Quality of unit
tests
Ineffective
incremental test
strategy
Insufficient focus
on working
software –
stories not ‘done’
‘Agile’ without
sufficient
customer
involvement
Effectiveness of
automation
strategy
Effectiveness of
automated tests
Lack of technical
expertise in test
team
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Testing
bottleneck
Hybrid
implementations

31. Success Factors
Look at the
Big Picture
Adopt an
Agile
Testing
Mindset
Collaborate
with
Customers
Use the
Whole
Team
Approach
Key
Success
Factors
Build a
Foundation
of Core
Agile
Practices
Automate
Regression
Testing
Provide
and Obtain
Feedback
Source: Janet Gregory, Dragonfire
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32. Common Pitfalls
• Modify the models to fit your context, but be aware of, what
elements that are essential for the model.
• If you are implementing a model for the first time, then get
help from someone who has tried it before.
• Don’t forget to have a structured approach to testing and
QA – and do it up front.
• Test automation is essential – but should not replace
manual testing.
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33. REMEMBER
There is no ”best practice” – only good practice in a certain
context.
Thank you
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