the agile tester’s mindset
DESCRIPTION
On traditional projects, testers usually join the project after coding has started—or even later when coding is almost finished. Testers have no role in advising the project team early regarding quality issues but focus only on finding defects. They become accustomed to this style of working and adjust their mental processes accordingly. On agile projects, where testers must collaborate closely with customers and programmers throughout the development lifecycle, their focus changes from finding defects to preventing them. Janet Gregory shares ways to change the tester’s mindset from How can I break the software? to How can I help deliver excellent software?—a critical mental shift on agile projects. Another aspect of the mindset change is learning how to test early and incrementally. Janet uses examples to help you understand how effective this mindset change is—and how you can apply it on your agile projects.TRANSCRIPT
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 ∙ [email protected] ∙ 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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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: [email protected]
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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DragonFire Inc.www.eurostarconferences.co
m
Questions?