AGILEEE Friday 17:15 Talk

Agile Testing, Risk,
Uncertainty, and Why It
All Works
(the updated for AGILEEE,
almost all new edition)
Elisabeth Hendrickson
Quality Tree Software, Inc.
www.qualitytree.com
esh@qualitytree.com

Last updated September 22, 2011
Copyright © 2011 Elisabeth Hendrickson, Quality Tree Software, Inc.

What Does Agile Really Mean?

Agile software teams…

…Deliver value in the form of
releasable software at frequent
regular intervals (at least
monthly)…
…At a sustainable pace…
…While adapting to the changing
needs of the business.

Increasing Complexity

Source: Wikimedia Commons. Courtesy of Ray
Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc.

Speculation
Speculation Buildup

Analyze Design Implement Stabilize
Release
Big Bang


Speculation, Lack of Alignment, and Risk

Intentions ?
? Implementation

Actual Need ?

Speculation
Agile eliminates speculation buildup…


…only if we eliminate the speculation


Speculation

Iterations…
“frAgile”!

Stabilize


speculation!
Every. Single. Time.
Evidence
Empirical


are the ones that
positioned to succeed

LEARN
The organizations best


Learn
Build

Measure


How do we check alignment?
Intentions

? Implementation

Actual Need

Get out of
the building!

Steve Blank, author of Four Steps to the Epiphany


Begin with the End in Mind.
Capture examples with
expectations. Automate
checking of expectations.

?
Intentions
Explore to discover risks.

Implementation

Actual Need

The Letter and Spirit of a Story

Explicit
Expectations

Implicit
Expectations

Check that all previously met expectations
are still met even as the solution grows in

capability and complexity.


Intentions

Implementation

Actual Need
? Demo.
Rehearse delivery.
Deliver frequently.
Explore with the
customer or proxy.

Latency
Reducing Feedback Latency


Intentions

Actual Need
✔
✔
Implementation


(OK, now let’s talk about “testing.”)


any activity that yields
about
the extent to which our
, our
, and the
are
.

Intentions

Actual Need
Checking Alignment

Implementation


The Whole Team Succeeds or Fails TOGETHER

“Hey! There’s a
hole in your side
of the boat.”

As Alistair Cockburn says:

There is no “Us” and “Them.”
There is only Us.

Nine Key Technical Testing-Related
Agile Practices

Exploratory
ATDD TDD
Testing

Automated Automated Collective
System Tests Unit Tests Ownership

Continuous Automated Rehearse
Integration Deploy Delivery

Test-First Mindset:
Begin with the End in Mind

Strategy
How will I
Initiative
know my
Code efforts have
the result I
intended?

Acceptance-Test Driven Development (ATDD)

Agile-Friendly Test Automation Framework

User Story Workshop Implementation

Continuous Integration (CI)

CI tools do
automated builds,
execute tests, and
report the results

Developers practicing CI
merge their changes
locally & execute tests
before checking in

Version ALL Technical Assets with the Code

Source Control Repository

Production Acceptance (Plus All
Code Tests other
technical
assets)
Unit Tests Test
“Fixture”
Code

Increase Visibility


Automated Deploy


Fail Early, Fail Fast

Exploration
Automated Regression
CI Build
Secs- Mins Mins- Hrs-
Local Unit Tests Mins Hrs Days

Failing early & fast gives us time
to fix the problems.

Red Build Means Stop the Line

We can just throw But that will
that bug on the pile increase technical
with the others. debt & slow
velocity.

Yuck.
If a previously passing expectation fails, there’s a
bug. Bugs slow everything down. To keep
sustainable pace, fix bugs fast.

Exploratory Testing

Simultaneously…
…learning about the software
…designing tests
…executing tests
using feedback from the last
test to inform the next

(See Jon and James Bach’s work on Session-Based ET)

+ Explored
Implemented

== DONE
+ Checked
Done Includes Tested


Intentions

Actual Need
TEST
Implementation

LEARN

AGILEEE Friday 17:15 Talk

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AGILEEE Friday 17:15 Talk