EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2009 presentation on Agile - Common Sense with a New Name Tag revised by Gustav Olsson. See more at conferences.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. Agile
- Common Sense with a New Name Tag?
Gustav Olsson
Capgemini, Sweden
EuroSTAR 2009

2. Introduction
 Gustav Olsson
 Senior Consultant at Capgemini, Malmö, Sweden.
 Worked with testing and validation within life science, the public sector and telecom.
 Worked with both agile (Scrum) and “traditional” projects.
 Have had the role of both tester, project manager and test manager.
 Big fan of the agile way of working.

3. I would like to plant a seed…

4. Common sense
 Definitions of common sense:
– Something that we "sense" as our common natural understanding.
– Beliefs or propositions that, in our opinion, most people would consider prudent and of
sound judgment … based upon what we see as knowledge held by people "in common".
 What can then be seen as “knowledge held by people” within the IT industry and more
specifically within the testing area of the industry?
 And to what extent is agile methodology common sense then?

5. Agile development and Agile testing
 I love agile…
– Development team gets constant feedback.
– If it goes wrong, it’s not the end of the world.
– We (the testers) get the time to test and fix.
– We become “one of the guys”, and not ”the last defender of quality”.
– We get executable software (at least more often than before).
– Documentation is minimized.

6. The Agile Manifesto
 The members of the Agile Alliance summarized their agile philosophies into twelve
principles:
• 1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable
software.
• 2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for
the customer's competitive advantage.
• 3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter time scale.
• 4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
• 5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and
trust them to get the job done.
• 6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team
is face-to-face conversation.
• 7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
• 8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be
able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
• 9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
• 10. Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential.
• 11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
• 12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its
behaviour accordingly.

7. Seven Boxes of Common Sense for Agile testing
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.
Build projects around
motivated
individuals.
Give them the
environment and
support they need,
and trust them to get
the job done.
Build projects around
motivated
individuals.
Give them the
environment and
support they need,
and trust them to get
the job done.
Simplicity - the art of
maximizing the
amount of work not
done is essential.
Simplicity - the art of
maximizing the
amount of work not
done is essential.
The most efficient
and effective method
of conveying
information to and
within a development
team is face-to-face
conversation.
The most efficient
and effective method
of conveying
information to and
within a development
team is face-to-face
conversation.
Working software is
the primary measure
of progress.
Working software is
the primary measure
of progress.
At regular intervals,
the team reflects on
how to become more
effective, then tunes
and adjusts
its behaviour
accordingly.
At regular intervals,
the team reflects on
how to become more
effective, then tunes
and adjusts
its behaviour
accordingly.
Business people and
developers must
work together daily
throughout the
project.
Business people and
developers must
work together daily
throughout the
project.

8. Agile - Comparing and predicting the future
 Is the agile methodology in any way unique for the SW development industry?
– Most certainly not…
• Morning meetings…
• Pair programming (doing things together)…
• Short communication channels…
• Splitting things up into smaller parts (Chunking)…
 Will the future only consist of agile development and testing?
– Most certainly not…
• Most methodologies have their ”15 minutes of fame”.
• Man wants to evolve.
• Our surroundings definitely evolve.
• Change makes it exciting.
• Even agile methodology has shortcomings.

9. Concluding thoughts
 Lets continue to evolve the industry, our selves and our way of working.
 Remember though to be open, flexible (agile) and dare to criticize the way we work.
 We can and should use parts of agile methodology in all projects – no matter what
methodology we use. And important as well; not to be embarrassed about it.
 No matter where we end up; remember the “Seven boxes of common-sense for Agile
testing” – those that we can truly take advantage of within testing.
 Agile certainly has a great amount of common sense in it – but also shortcomings.
 Let’s refine it but also keep the goodies that we as testers have been given with the agile
methodology.

10. Thank You!
Discussion
Questions
Thoughts
Gustav Olsson
Senior Consultant
Capgemini Sweden
Baltzarsgatan 31,
SE-203 11 Malmö, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 5368 3949
Mobile: +46 761 45 46 72
gustav.olsson@capgemini.com
Gustav Olsson
Senior Consultant
Capgemini Sweden
Baltzarsgatan 31,
SE-203 11 Malmö, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 5368 3949
Mobile: +46 761 45 46 72
gustav.olsson@capgemini.com