the agile tester’s mindset

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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 8882688770 9042780524 [email protected] www.sqe.com

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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.

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Page 1: 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 ∙ [email protected] ∙ www.sqe.com

Page 2: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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.

 

Page 3: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

5/1/2013

1

Janet Gregory, DragonFire Inc.Copyright 2013

June 2013

Agile Development Conference West

Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

First agile team – 2000

Currently – coaching, testing

Book – Agile Testing; January 2009

2

Page 4: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

5/1/2013

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• Test more than “just” code

• Testing is an activity; not a phase

Page 5: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

5/1/2013

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

Cross-functional knowledge

Dis

cip

lin

ary

sk

ills

http://www.slideshare.net/ehendrickson

AnalyticalRelentlessly CuriousObservantSkepticalEmpiricistCritical ThinkerInvestigator

Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

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!

6

Page 6: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• Collaboration means ...

◦ Working together to find solutions, etc.

◦ The ‘whole team’ …..

� Customers, testers and programmers …..

• Communication means ... sharing

◦ Ideas, information, decisions, solutions, etc.

Page 7: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• Understand the

business needs

• What level are at?

• Collaborate

appropriately

Release level

Iteration level

Story test level

Task levelSys

tem

le

vel

Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• Power of Three

• 3 Amigos

• Pairing

• Continuous feedback

10

Page 8: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

User

Story

Expand

Tests

High

level

AT

Auto-

mate

tests

Code

&

Execute

tests

Explore

Exploratory

Testing

Accept

Story

Fix

defects

Explore

examples

11

Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• Examples provide common language

• Shared common understanding

• Coding and testing concurrently

• Involves whole team

• Shared definition of DONE

• Prevents defects

12

Page 9: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

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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15

16

Page 11: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

It’s not just about code !!!

◦ Test assumptions

◦ Uncover hidden assumptions

The goal:

◦ Shared common understanding of the story

◦ Preventing defects (eliminate waste)

Page 12: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• 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?

Page 13: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• 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.

21

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

Page 14: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc. 23

24

Page 15: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• Think simple

• Have a variety of tools

• Adapt to your needs

• Look in places you may not have considered

Page 16: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

• Curiosity

• Ability to observe

• Ability to challenge

• Ability to adapt

• To recognize contexts

• Technical awareness

• Ability to THINK !

28

Challenge

Yourself !

Page 17: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.

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

29

• 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

Page 18: The Agile Tester’s Mindset

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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

Copyright 2013

DragonFire Inc.www.eurostarconferences.co

m

Questions?