The document outlines challenges and strategies encountered during a Test-Driven Development (TDD) implementation at Solium, highlighting resistance to change and the steep learning curve associated with TDD. Despite initial setbacks, including low adoption rates and cultural resistance, the team eventually saw improvements in productivity and code quality after emphasizing goal communication and encouraging experimentation. The author advocates for enabling innovators and promoting a culture of learning and collaboration to ensure the successful adoption of TDD.

1. @AgileChrisYYC
How to Fail your
TDD Rollout
A Train Wreck Story
Chris Edwards, Dev Manager
@ Solium

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Chris Edwards
Software Development
Manager @ Solium

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How to FAIL your TDD Rollout

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How to FAIL your TDD Rollout

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How to FAIL your TDD Rollout
Poorly Execute

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How to FAIL your TDD Rollout
Poorly Execute
building an engineering culture

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Background
• Approx 50 QA + Devs
• Brand new to Agile
• C++ Desktop software
• No culture of unit testing
• Previous job (not Solium)
And now
you’re agile!

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Pre-Agile Release Cycle
• 3 Month release cycle
• 2 Months of development
• 1 week feature freeze (bug fixes only)
• 1 month code freeze (critical fixes only)

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Agile Release Cycle
• 2 week sprints
• Testing part of Definition of Done
• Cultural resistance to eliminating 1 month code-
freeze

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Our Solution:
• Just automate our manual testing!

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Our Solution:
• With automated UI tests!!!

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I want to bring
something to
your attention

21. “In God we Trust, all
others must bring data”
~W. Edwards Deming

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24. At our current pace, it would take 2.5
years to automate the backlog of test
cases

25. QA spent 50%-75% of their time
maintaining the existing tests

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28. “It is difficult to get a man to understand
something, when his salary depends on
his not understanding it.”
~Upton Sinclair

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The Promise of TDD
• Fewer bugs
• Faster detection of bugs
• Better designs & cleaner code
• Fearless refactoring
There is a
better way

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TDD is ALIVE
This is the greatest thing ever!
Why aren’t we doing this already?
This is so much better!
We should have been doing this years ago
Where have you been all my life!

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TDD is dead!
That’ll never work here!
Our code is too old!
Its just a fad!
We don’t have time for that!
The business will never agree to this!

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Infrastructure!
• Setup Google Test and GMock
• Integrated tests with existing builds (Currently take
2 hours)
• Created faster builds in Jenkins that take < 20
minutes

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Learning
• Presentations on TDD internally
• Self-directed learning module
• Teaches basics of red-green refactoring

35. TDD Community
of Practice

36. FFWD 6 Months

37. TDD Adoption:
10-15%

38. Defect Rate: Minimal
Change

39. Code Freeze: Still 1
month

40. Challenge 1:
“We don’t have time to
learn”

41. Challenge 2:
“We don’t have time to in
our sprint”

42. Challenge 3:
“The business will never
agree to this”

43. Challenge 4:
“Works great for new code,
but we work in legacy code”

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I have a hypothesis

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TDD Has a steep
learning curve

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The benefits of TDD
won’t be seen right
away

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If people give it an
honest chance they’ll
see the benefits

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Let’s ask everyone to
give it a try for a
while

49. TDD Mandate:
Everyone must do TDD

50. Clarification:
Everyone must write at least
one test on every story or bug

51. Any predictions?

52. TDD Adoption improved!
Sort of…

53. Problem:
Some people take things
a little too literally

54. Some people take
things a little too literally

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[Test]
void TestFunction()
{
var subject = new Class();
subject->Func();
Assert( true );
}

56. Problem:
Some people don’t
exercise pragmatism

57. A storms a brewin’

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The Dogmatists The Pragmatists
Everyone should be doing TDD TDD is just a fad
Just try it! This will slow us down
You have to give it a chance You’re just drinking
the Kool-Aid

60. Let’s Pause

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At Your Tables
• What went wrong here?
• What could we have done differently?
• Where have you seen successful change happen
that was handled differently?

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On what you can
control must you
focus. Follow the
rest will.

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On what you can
control must you
focus. Follow the
rest will.

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On what you can
control must you
focus. Follow the
rest will.

67. FFWD a few months:
Team is much more
productive

68. FFWD a few more months:
Team has grown, splits in
half

69. Results after 2 years:
Measurable improvement
in code quality

70. Let’s Pause Again

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At Your Tables
• What can we do to repeat this success?

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73. TDD is Not the Goal

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http://www.dfe.com/photos/openvsclosedloop.jpg

75. “If you have a test suite that you trust so
much that you are willing to deploy the
system based solely on those tests passing;
and if that test suite can be executed in
seconds, or minutes, then you can quickly
and easily clean the code without fear.”
~Robert C. Martin

76. “If you have a test suite that you trust so
much that you are willing to deploy the
system based solely on those tests passing;
and if that test suite can be executed in
seconds, or minutes, then you can quickly
and easily clean the code without fear.”
~Robert C. Martin

77. “If you have a test suite that you trust so
much that you are willing to deploy the
system based solely on those tests passing;
and if that test suite can be executed in
seconds, or minutes, then you can quickly
and easily clean the code without fear.”
~Robert C. Martin

78. Enable the Innovators,
Ignore the Laggards

79. Encourage
Experimentation -
Celebrate Failure

80. Get a Doc Brown!

82. Build Connection

84. Allocate Time for
Learning

85. Dynamic Reteaming

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Summary
• Communicate goals, not methods
• Enable the innovators, ignore the laggards
• Encourage experimentation
• Get a “Doc Brown”
• Create connection - Re-team if you need to

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Solium is Hiring
https://solium.com/careers/

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Thank You!
• @AgileChrisYYC
• chris.edwards@solium.com
• www.chrisandseanagile.com
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