The document provides guidance for testers working on Scrum teams. It recommends five steps: 1) regroup the team to address any issues with assumptions around testing responsibilities; 2) for testers to expand their skills and consult with developers; 3) for testers to partner closely with the Scrum team, asking questions early and over-communicating; 4) to limit work in progress to avoid bottlenecks; and 5) to continuously iterate and improve processes. The overall message is that quality and testing should be a shared responsibility of the entire Scrum team through open communication and incremental process adjustments.
An Agilist's Guide to Excelling on a Scrum Team as a Tester
1. Agilist’s Guide to Surviving
EXCELLING
as a Tester on a Scrum Team
Presented by Andy Melichar for
QA or the Highway 2019
Photo by Seth Doyle on Unsplas
2. About Me
• ScrumMaster for Active On-Demand
• Previously worked as a CIO, Development
Manager, Product Owner, and Developer
• CSM, CSM-A and CSP-SM
• Totally geek out about all things Agile
• Currently studying the areas of
Psychological Safety and Appreciative
Inquiry
• Also very involved in WordPress and Co-
Organize the Detroit WordPress Meetup
and WordCamp Detroit
3. Caveat Emptor
Don’t worry I’m not going to sell you on anything
Except maybe Agile/Scrum ;)
I don’t have all the answers / the perfect answer / magic formula
Feel Free to follow the Rule of 2 Feet… if this talk at any time isn’t
for you, use your feet and move on to another talk, I wont be
offended!
YMMV
4. Raise Your Hand If…
ScrumMaster or Product Owner?
QA or Quality Manager?
Tester?
[something] Analyst?
Currently working on an Agile/Scrum
Team?
Adopted Agile within the last year?
Thinking about adopting agile?
Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash
5. What are you hoping to get out
of this talk?
Photo by Sebastian Muller on Unsplas
10. Your office PROBABLY looks like this
API
Dev
API
Dev
UI DevUI DevUI Dev
QA
Tester
QA
Tester
QA
Tester
QA
Tester
API
Dev
Product
Owner
Scrum
Master
QA
Manager
12. Your Sprint Flow MIGHT Look Like This
UI Dev QA TestAPI Dev
Day
1
Day
2
Day
3
Day
4
Day
5
Day
6
Day
7
Day
8
Day
9
Day
10
Day
11
Day
12
Day
13
Day
14
DemoPlan
UI Dev QA TestAPI Dev DemoPlan
UI
Dev
QA TestAPI Dev DemoPlan
API Dev DemoPlan
QA
Test
15. TEAMS HAVE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT TESTING…
It’s QA’s job to do the testing
So I (the developer) don’t have to worry about testing
If there’s a bug, we’ll find it in our automated tests
I have unit tests, so there can’t be any bugs!
My unit test coverage is 99% - my code is perfect!
16. WHEN YOU LIVE
UNDER THESE
ASSUMPTIONS…
Bugs sneak their way into your code
Sub-par code is written and ignored
“Tests” aren’t really tests
Collect technical debt
The baseline for quality is ultimate lowered
18. Sure, But HOW Do I Bring it Up?
BRING IT UP IN A
RETROSPECTIVE
BRING IT UP IN A 1-ON-1 TALK TO YOUR
SCRUMMASTER
TALK TO A SYMPATHETIC
MEMBER OF THE
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
19. If talking openly is a
problem with your
team…
Read up on Psychological Safety
Work with your ScrumMaster to set up
realistic opportunities for open and safe
communication
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplas
23. Some Answers
I’ve Gotten To
This Question:
“We are behind in automation for testing, with
no clear definition of what needs to be done
to close the gaps”
“There are challenges executing regression
tests with regards to being advocates for the
users. We lack knowledge of the
application/functionality”
“In our new application, we are putting the
same square pegs into the same round holes”
24. WHY IS HE TALKING
ABOUT RETROSPECTIVES
AND TEAM ACTIVITIES?
ISN’T THIS TALK ABOUT BEING A TESTER?
26. STEP 2: BECOME A CHAMELEON
Photo by Cécile Brasseur on Unsplash
27. HR? Yeah we
have a testing
backlog… hire
me another
tester ASAP!
28. Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplas
Primary Skillset
Secondary
Skills
Secondary
Skills
Secondary
Skills
Secondary
Skills
29. Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplas
Automated
Testing
Exploratory
Testing
UAT
Analysis
Customer
Liasion
Secondary
Skills
Secondary
Skills
Secondary
Skills
Secondary
Skills
30. Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplas
Unit Test
Best
Practices
CI/CD
Negotiation
and
Diplomacy
Agile and
Scrum
Automated
Testing
Exploratory
Testing
UAT
Analysis
Customer
Liasion
35. Experts in Testing
CONSULT WITH
DEVELOPERS
TEACH TESTING BEST
PRACTICES
PARTICIPATE IN
DEVELOPMENT
HELP DEVELOPERS
EFFECTIVE UNIT TESTS
DO EXPERIMENTAL
TESTING
36. Step 3: Partner With The Scrum Team
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
37. to with your ScrumMaster
Photo by Thomas Drouault on Unsplas
39. Questions Like…
How are we going to test this?
This should be JUST as important a question to the Scrum team as the question
“How do we build it?”
This question should be asked in sprint planning!
What’s the scope of this story?
Stories that are too loosely defined make testing difficult
47. Ideally it Should Look Like This…
Day
1
Day
2
Day
3
Day
4
Day
5
Day
6
Day
7
Day
8
Day
9
Day
10
Day
11
Day
12
Day
13
Day
14
DemoPlan
DemoPlan
DemoPlan
DemoPlan
Story 3
Story 1
Story 4
Story 2
50. How to EXCEL as a Tester on a Scrum Team
Regroup the
Team
Become a
Chameleon
Partner with the
Scrum Team
Limit Work in
Progress (WIP)
Iterate!
51. Our team still has struggles
pushing quality to the left…
Photo by Joao Tzanno on Unsplas
52. How we make a difference, is we are open to talking about it and altering our
process bit by bit… which is what being “Agile” is truly about.
Photo by bryshmy
53. Where To Get Help And Support
Photo by J W on Unsplas
There will be something for all of you in the talk… and on that note, another question….
Why did I use the word “Survive” originally? Because there is still a lot of confusion in the agile world about how to effectively bring testers and QA into the agile process.
But in the real world… that’s not the case.
In the real world we have defined roles, and we are hired for a specific purpose.
First things first, regroup the team. This may be the hardest part. What is it that they say about problems? The hardest part of often admitting there is a problem. If your team is operating under certain assumptions, if smelly code is being swept under the rug, or if QA is getting dumped on at the end of every sprint – it’s time to talk about it.
This concept is simple… split up your team so they are all at 3-4 different tables. If you have a smaller team you could include stakeholders and customers. At each table, there is paper, writing utensils, and a question. You give each table 10 minutes to answer the question at the table, and have them write their answers on the paper. Then everyone rotates to another table, except for on person that stays behind. The person that stays behind explains the answers from the previous group to the new group. Run these rounds until everyone has been to every table.
This requires a change in mindset… and that change start with you.
If you don’t have a ScrumMaster… START THERE!
Look at all the places where things have to get handed off… it’s like a game of telephone, and QA is at the end of line trying to decipher the distorted message that has been passed down.
