Pragmatic Testing in Agile Projects Dr Stuart Reid Testing Solutions Group Test Management Summit, London 28 th January, 2009

The Agile Manifesto That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.” comprehensive documentation processes and tools over contract negotiation following a plan over “In AGILE we value… Working software Responding to change Customer collaboration Individuals & interactions

Agile Principles Incremental development –delivering a series of (useful, usable) deliveries; Iterative development –allowing requirements to evolve and be added to; –responding quickly to new business priorities; People-oriented development –people’s qualities rather than heavy process; –allowing the agile team to manage themselves; –daily interaction between developers and the business; Technical excellence and built-in quality –personal responsibility, craftsmanship and simplicity; Lean approach –Measure progress by delivered product; –Minimise waste.

Reason for adopting agileActual benefits realised 1Accelerate time to market1Manage change 2 2Visibility 3Increase productivity3Improve morale 4Enhance quality4Align IT and business 5 5Enhanced quality 6Improve visibility6=Time to market 7Reduce risk6=Increase productivity 8Simplify process8 9Other reason – not disclosed9Engineering discipline 10Increase engineering discipline10Enhance maintainability 11Reduce cost11Reduce risk 12Enhance maintainability12Reduce cost 13Improve morale13Manage distributed teams “The State of Agile Development Survey”, 2008 (2319 respondents)

An Agile Approach Business Requirements EVOLVING BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS Sprint nSprint 1Sprint 2Sprint 3 INCREMENTAL PRODUCT DELIVERY PRODUCT BACKLOG

sprint retrospective sprint showcase Development & Test Option 1 sprint showcase fix & test issues raise issues daily scrums Sprint Backlog write stories plan sprint Product Backlog develop stories regression test test stories acceptance test select sprint backlog Sprint Backlog plan sprint select sprint backlog sprint retrospective raise issues write stories

OPERATIONAL SOFTWARE Development & Test Option 2 v1 Test 1TTest 2 V1.1 v2 V2.1 Developing v2 (includes tdd + continuous regression regression test) test) RegressionTest AcceptanceTest StoryRe-testV1.1 StoryTestV1 TestPrepv1 Sprint 1SpriSprint 2 Debugging v1» v1.1

Dev Sprint 4 Dev Sprint 5 Development & Test Option 3 Dev Sprint 1 Dev Sprint 2 Dev Sprint 3 Test Sprint v1.1 OPERATIONALSOFTWARE RegressionTest AcceptanceTest StoryRe-testV1.1 StoryTestV1 TestPrepv1 Debug V1  v1.1

Agile Optimisation Factors and constraints will be unique to your organisation –...plus variables for your project (as each project is unique) –...lead to options for your agile projects How do you identify the unique balance of options that is optimal for your project?

Non-Optional for Agile? Iterative development –gives you: responsive to change, time to market, etc. Incremental development –gives you: time to market, visibility, etc. Management Support –gives you: morale, freedom from interruptions, etc. Culture of Trust –gives you: productivity, quality, etc. Daily Scrums –gives you: visibility, common understanding, etc.

Agile Options (1 of ?) What’s NeededProject OptionWhat You Get Customer involvement in sprint Good sprint management All roles available in sprint Development & Test Option 1 (All testing in the sprint) Fast time to market Responsive to change Later customer involvement for UAT Separate development and test roles Continuous test and development needed Branching (version management) Development & Test Option 2 (Parallel test sprints) Slower time to market Less responsiveness ???Development & Test Option 3 (Occasional test sprints) ???

Let’s Look at Further Agile Options... What’s NeededProject OptionWhat you get