the agile tester’s mindset

AW8 Session 6/5/2013 2:15 PM 

"The Mindset Change for the Agile Tester"

Presented by:

Janet Gregory DragonFire, Inc.

Brought to you by:  

340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073 888‐268‐8770 ∙ 904‐278‐0524 ∙ sqeinfo@sqe.com ∙ www.sqe.com

Janet Gregory DragonFire, Inc.

Agile testing coach and practitioner Janet Gregory (@janetgregoryca) is the coauthor of Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams and a contributor to 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know. Janet specializes in showing agile teams how testers can add value in areas beyond critiquing the product. For the past ten years, she has been working with teams to transition to agile development. Janet teaches agile testing courses and tutorials worldwide, contributes articles to leading publications, and enjoys sharing her experiences at conferences and user group meetings worldwide. Find more information at janetgregory.ca or visit herblog.

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Janet Gregory, DragonFire Inc.Copyright 2013

June 2013

Agile Development Conference West

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DragonFire Inc.

First agile team – 2000

Currently – coaching, testing

Book – Agile Testing; January 2009

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• Test more than “just” code

• Testing is an activity; not a phase

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Cross-functional knowledge

Dis

cip

lin

ary

sk

ills

http://www.slideshare.net/ehendrickson

AnalyticalRelentlessly CuriousObservantSkepticalEmpiricistCritical ThinkerInvestigator

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Instead of

◦We’re here to find bugs … or ensure requirements are met … or break the software …

Think

– What can I do to help deliver

the software successfully!

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• Collaboration means ...

◦ Working together to find solutions, etc.

◦ The ‘whole team’ …..

� Customers, testers and programmers …..

• Communication means ... sharing

◦ Ideas, information, decisions, solutions, etc.

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• Understand the

business needs

• What level are at?

• Collaborate

appropriately

Release level

Iteration level

Story test level

Task levelSys

tem

le

vel

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• Power of Three

• 3 Amigos

• Pairing

• Continuous feedback

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User

Story

Expand

Tests

High

level

AT

Auto-

mate

tests

Code

&

Execute

tests

Explore

Exploratory

Testing

Accept

Story

Fix

defects

Explore

examples

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• Examples provide common language

• Shared common understanding

• Coding and testing concurrently

• Involves whole team

• Shared definition of DONE

• Prevents defects

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Checking:

◦ Confirmation

◦ Machine decidable

Testing:

◦ Exploration & learning

◦ Requires sapience

**Definitions of testing vs. checking by Michael Bolton

GUI

API

Unit Tests

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It’s not just about code !!!

◦ Test assumptions

◦ Uncover hidden assumptions

The goal:

◦ Shared common understanding of the story

◦ Preventing defects (eliminate waste)

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• Know your context

• Have a tool box full

• Simple is often best

• Use your imagination

Let’s look at some examples

Words / Phrases

• I wonder ….

• What caught your

attention?

• Could you show me?

• What makes you think

there is more?

Questions / Predictions

• What might happen

next?

• Why would that be?

• What is the worst thing

that could happen?

• …. or the best?

• What assumptions do

you have?

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• Practice anticipating what will happen

• Define your tests

• Check – running tests or collaborate with

customers and programmers before* coding

• Be prepared to change your tests if your

predictions are wrong

• Learn by reviewing – what questions could

you have asked first.

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Sub topic

Sub topic

Sub topic

MAIN

TOPIC

Sub topic

Sub topic

first time

change

new account

password

rules

encryption

saveuser name

rules

Login : User name & password

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• Think simple

• Have a variety of tools

• Adapt to your needs

• Look in places you may not have considered

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• Curiosity

• Ability to observe

• Ability to challenge

• Ability to adapt

• To recognize contexts

• Technical awareness

• Ability to THINK !

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Challenge

Yourself !

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Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for

Testers and Agile Teams

By Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory

www.agiletester.ca

Contact info

www.janetgregory.ca

http://janetgregory.blogspot.com/

Email: janet@agiletester.ca

Twitter: janetgregoryca

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• Elisabeth Hendrickson

� CAST keynote http://www.slideshare.net/ehendrickson

� Explore It! – new book on Pragmatic Programmers

• Ben Kelly, http://lets-test.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/LetsTest2012-

BenKelly-TheTestingDead.pdf

• Markus Gartner, http://www.shino.de/2012/07/16/cast-2012-the-testing-dead/

• Paul Carvalho, http://www.agilejournal.com/articles/columns/column-

articles/6515-low-tech-tools-for-the-thinking-tester

• Michael Bolton, http://www.developsense.com/blog/2009/08/testing-vs-

checking

• Ready to Use Graphic Organizers

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• http://www.exampler.com - Brian Marick’s web site

• Gojko Adzic, Bridging the Communication Gap, 2009; Specification by

Example, 2011

• www.stickyminds.com/ Pragmatic Personas - Jeff Patton’s weekly

column 1/25/2010

• Jean Tabaka, Collaboration Explained, 2006 Addison-Wesley

• http://www.uie.com/articles/indispensable_skills

• Portia Tung – Power of Play

http://www.selfishprogramming.com/category/playmaking/

• Ester Derby and Dianne Larsen, Agile Retrospectives

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m

Questions?