Testing in the Agile World (Part 2)

Continuing from the previous post

 

In such a scenario, the role of individuals who consider themselves dedicated testers, may be questioned. When agile development already emphasizes practices such as test-first development, developers writing unit tests and so on, is there a need for dedicated or specialist testers on agile teams ? The answer is very much a resounding, Yes !

Testers bring to the table a range of special skill sets and abilities that help enhance the quality of the work product. Testers can perform testing that goes beyond the unit and component level tests which developers / programmers may perform. Testers on agile teams can, like their counterparts in the traditional models, add a lot of value by performing tests from a customer / end user perspective; develop and execute a variety of different test types such as performance, functional, security, interoperability, compatibility and so on.

In our group at my current organization, we follow an agile development method called called Scrum. In brief, product development activity happens in short iterations called “sprints” which may be of a few weeks duration (generally up to ~4 weeks). Members from the different functional groups come together and form a single team that works together on delivering the features which  the team commits to. The list of features, enhancements, defects to be addressed is put up in a prioritized list known as the backlog. The sprint team picks up tasks from this list which members think they can accomplish during the duration of the sprint. The scrum process is co-ordinated and facilitated by an individual who dons the role of a “scrum master”. Daily stand-up meetings happen where members share information on their achievements since the last meeting, any obstacles faced and plans for the next day. Reports such as burn down charts and information captured during the meetings help introduce a greater degree of transparency into the development activities when compared to traditional models that were followed. Testers are paired with developers, normally a tester works together with a developer on a particular area and works in tandem on producing the product.

 

POST BY John Morrison. FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT: http://www.techmanageronline.com/2009/11/testing-in-agile-world-part-2.html