Recent and constant changes in technology have resulted in a transition from the traditional Center of Excellence model, to an agile development model, which has made its way into the mainstream and caused a shift in how testing, particularly performance testing, is done. Join our Webinar to learn how a top tier manufacturer transformed their ability to deliver high quality projects, faster, by adapting their load testing to fit an agile development approach. In this webinar you’ll learn: Why you need to think differently about performance testing in an agile development environment How to shift Performance Testing to the left in the development cycle What adjustments to consider in your performance testing centers of excellence model Technology platform considerations for faster, more collaborative load testing Utopia Solutions Founder and CTO, Lee Barnes, will dive into tips and techniques for bringing effective performance testing to your agile organization.

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Agile Load Testing in the Real World
Lee Barnes, CTO
Utopia Solutions
@USI_LeeBarnes

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Key Questions
What needs to change?
How do we make those changes?
Why don’t traditional performance
testing models fit nicely with agile?

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Case Study
Background
• Large global manufacturer
• Performance Testing CoE in operation for ~10 yrs
• Seen as a huge value to the enterprise
• Began moving toward agile a few years ago…
and the luster of the CoE began to dull…

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Traditional Performance Testing Model
Center of
Excellence
Project 1
Project 2 Project
N
Provides Consistency in…
• Resources / Skills
• Processes
• Deliverable Quality
• Technology
Request Test
Project
Team
Center of
Excellence
Perform Discovery
Develop & Execute
Deliver ResultsEvaluate Results
Info / Environment

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• One size fits all
• Strict entry criteria
• Performed late in SDLC
• One-way communication of
results
Service Characteristics
CoE in the Waterfall Years
Plan Design Build Test Deploy
Performance Testing
Too late!

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Agile Development
Analyze
Develop
Integrate
Acceptance
Test
Deploy
Where does performance
testing fit?

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Early Attempts on Agile Projects
Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 … Deploy
Agile
Performance Testing
Same Process…
Same Risk!

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Early Attempts on Agile Projects
Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 … Deploy
Agile
Performance
Testing
Performance
Testing
Performance
Testing
Performance
Testing
CoE Approach
• Rigid
• 4 week test cycle
Agile Approach
• Flexible
• 2 week sprints
+ =

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Back to the drawing
board…

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Early Cycle /
Ongoing
Performance
Analysis
Establish Objectives
Ultimate Goal…
Late Cycle
Performance
Testing
Shift Left

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Identify Gaps
What’s stopping us from analyzing performance
continuously?
• Performance objectives weren’t part of
user stories
• Agile teams lacked performance
engineering expertise
• Performance testing knowledge and tools
were locked in the CoE
• APM tools / skills were non-existent

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Disclaimers
It was not easy.
The changes discussed on the next few
slides were implemented over a two
year duration.
It was not painless.

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Performance Testing in an Agile Environment
Build performance objectives in to user
stories
Make performance everyone’s job
Create a role to coordinate
performance activities
CoE performance test architects
become mentors
Begin developing a
performance focused
culture

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Performance Testing in an Agile Environment
Map business and end user
requirements onto system components
Create both single and multi user tests
Benchmark in development / QA
environment
Look for trends in measurements vs.
absolutes
Use service virtualization to stub out 3rd
party or yet to be developed
components
Execute unit performance tests as part
of continuous integration
Implement Unit /
Component
Performance Testing

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Waterfall Agile
Responsibility for
Performance
Performance CoE
Role of CoE End of cycle PT
Role of
development
Throw system over wall
Wait for results
Tools Traditional load test tools
Environment Dedicated / production-like
Deliverable Boiler plate results delivered
just prior to release
Waterfall Agile
Responsibility for
Performance
Performance CoE Everyone
Role of CoE End of cycle PT Provide mentorship to agile team
Pre-deployment system PT
Role of
development
Throw system over wall
Wait for results
Continuous focus on performance
Tools Traditional load test tools Traditional load test tools
APM tools
Service virtualization
Continuous integration
Environment Dedicated / production-like Development / desktop
Deliverable Boiler plate results delivered
just prior to release
Continuous feed of actionable
data
Performance Testing in an Agile Environment
Transformation Summary

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Summary
Key takeaways…
• Agile performance testing is not more
/ quicker performance tests
• Success requires an shift in people,
process and technology

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Questions…
…. and Answers!
Direct future questions to:
Lee Barnes
Founder and CTO
Utopia Solutions, Inc.
Email: lee.barnes@utopiasolutions.com
Twitter: twitter.com/USI_LeeBarnes
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leebarnes
Blog: www.RaiseYourMQ.com
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