Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams

✍ Scribed by Crispin, Lisa(Contributor);Gregory, Janet;Cohn, Mike(Foreword);Marick, Brian(Foreword)

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 577
• Series: A Mike Cohn Signature Book;The Addison-Wesley Signature Series
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Testing is a key component of agile development. The widespread adoption of agile methods has brought the need for effective testing into the limelight, and agile projects have transformed the role of testers. Much of a tester's function, however, remains largely misunderstood. What is the true role of a tester? Do agile teams actually need members with QA backgrounds? What does it really mean to be an "agile tester?"

Two of the industry's most experienced agile testing practitioners and consultants, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory, have teamed up to bring you the definitive answers to these questions and many others. InAgile Testing, Crispin and Gregory define agile testing and illustrate the tester's role with examples from real agile teams. They teach you how to use the agile testing quadrants to identify what testing is needed, who should do it, and what tools might help. The book chronicles an agile software development iteration from the viewpoint of a tester and explains the seven key success factors of agile testing.

Readers will come away from this book understanding

- How to get testers engaged in agile development
- Where testers and QA managers fit on an agile team
- What to look for when hiring an agile tester
- How to transition from a traditional cycle to agile development
- How to complete testing activities in short iterations
- How to use tests to successfully guide development
- How to overcome barriers to test automation

This book is a must for agile testers, agile teams, their managers, and their customers.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 10
Foreword......Page 24
Foreword......Page 26
Preface......Page 28
Acknowledgments......Page 38
About the Authors......Page 42
Part I: Introduction......Page 44
Agile Values......Page 46
What Do We Mean by “Agile Testing”?......Page 47
A Little Context for Roles and Activities on an Agile Team......Page 50
How Is Agile Testing Different?......Page 52
Whole-Team Approach......Page 58
Summary......Page 60
What’s an Agile Tester?......Page 62
The Agile Testing Mind-Set......Page 63
Applying Agile Principles and Values......Page 64
Adding Value......Page 74
Summary......Page 76
Part II: Organizational Challenges......Page 78
Organizational Culture......Page 80
Barriers to Successful Agile Adoption by Test/QA Teams......Page 87
Introducing Change......Page 92
Management Expectations......Page 95
Change Doesn’t Come Easy......Page 99
Summary......Page 101
Team Structure......Page 102
Physical Logistics......Page 108
Resources......Page 109
Building a Team......Page 112
Summary......Page 114
Seeking Lightweight Processes......Page 116
Metrics......Page 117
Defect Tracking......Page 122
Test Planning......Page 129
Existing Processes and Models......Page 131
Summary......Page 136
Part III: The Agile Testing Quadrants......Page 138
The Agile Testing Quadrants......Page 140
Knowing When a Story Is Done......Page 147
Testing in Context......Page 149
Summary......Page 151
An Agile Testing Foundation......Page 152
Why Write and Execute These Tests?......Page 155
Where Do Technology-Facing Tests Stop?......Page 162
What If the Team Doesn’t Do These Tests?......Page 164
Toolkit......Page 166
Summary......Page 170
Driving Development with Business-Facing Tests......Page 172
The Requirements Quandary......Page 175
Thin Slices, Small Chunks......Page 187
How Do We Know We’re Done?......Page 189
Tests Mitigate Risk......Page 190
Testability and Automation......Page 192
Summary......Page 193
Business-Facing Test Tool Strategy......Page 196
Tools to Elicit Examples and Requirements......Page 198
Tools for Automating Tests Based on Examples......Page 207
Strategies for Writing Tests......Page 220
Testability......Page 226
Summary......Page 229
Chapter 10 Business-Facing Tests that Critique the Product......Page 232
Introduction to Quadrant......Page 233
Demonstrations......Page 234
Scenario Testing......Page 235
Exploratory Testing......Page 238
Usability Testing......Page 245
Behind the GUI......Page 247
Testing Documents and Documentation......Page 250
Tools to Assist with Exploratory Testing......Page 253
Summary......Page 257
Introduction to Quadrant 4......Page 260
Who Does It?......Page 263
When Do You Do It?......Page 265
“ility” Testing......Page 266
Performance, Load, Stress, and Scalability Testing......Page 276
Summary......Page 281
Review of the Testing Quadrants......Page 284
A System Test Example......Page 285
Tests Driving Development......Page 287
Automation......Page 288
Critiquing the Product with Business-Facing Tests......Page 291
Documentation......Page 294
Using the Agile Testing Quadrants......Page 295
Summary......Page 296
Part IV: Automation......Page 298
Chapter 13 Why We Want to Automate Tests and What Holds Us Back......Page 300
Why Automate?......Page 301
Barriers to Automation—Things that Get in the Way......Page 307
Can We Overcome These Barriers?......Page 313
Summary......Page 314
Chapter 14 An Agile Test Automation Strategy......Page 316
An Agile Approach to Test Automation......Page 317
What Can We Automate?......Page 322
What Shouldn’t We Automate?......Page 328
What Might Be Hard to Automate?......Page 330
Developing an Automation Strategy—Where Do We Start?......Page 331
Applying Agile Principles to Test Automation......Page 341
Supplying Data for Tests......Page 347
Evaluating Automation Tools......Page 354
Implementing Automation......Page 359
Managing Automated Tests......Page 362
Summary......Page 367
Part V: An Iteration in the Life of a Tester......Page 370
Chapter 15 Tester Activities in Release or Theme Planning......Page 372
The Purpose of Release Planning......Page 373
Sizing......Page 375
Prioritizing......Page 381
What’s in Scope?......Page 383
Test Planning......Page 388
Test Plan Alternatives......Page 393
Preparing for Visibility......Page 397
Summary......Page 409
Be Proactive......Page 412
Advance Clarity......Page 416
Examples......Page 421
Test Strategies......Page 423
Resources......Page 424
Summary......Page 425
Iteration Planning......Page 426
Testable Stories......Page 436
Collaborate with Customers......Page 439
High-Level Tests and Examples......Page 440
Summary......Page 446
Chapter 18 Coding and Testing......Page 448
Driving Development......Page 449
Tests that Critique the Product......Page 455
Collaborate with Programmers......Page 456
Talk to Customers......Page 457
Completing Testing Tasks......Page 458
Dealing with Bugs......Page 459
It’s All about Choices......Page 462
Facilitate Communication......Page 472
Regression Tests......Page 475
Resources......Page 477
Iteration Metrics......Page 478
Summary......Page 483
Iteration Demo......Page 486
Retrospectives......Page 487
Celebrate Successes......Page 492
Summary......Page 494
What Makes a Product?......Page 496
Planning Enough Time for Testing......Page 498
The End Game......Page 499
Customer Testing......Page 507
Post-Development Testing Cycles......Page 510
Deliverables......Page 511
Releasing the Product......Page 513
Customer Expectations......Page 518
Summary......Page 519
Part VI: Summary......Page 522
Chapter 21 Key Success Factors......Page 524
Success Factor 2: Adopt an Agile Testing Mind-Set......Page 525
Success Factor 4: Provide and Obtain Feedback......Page 527
Success Factor 5: Build a Foundation of Core Practices......Page 529
Success Factor 6: Collaborate with Customers......Page 532
Success Factor 7: Look at the Big Picture......Page 533
Summary......Page 534
C......Page 536
E......Page 537
L......Page 538
R......Page 539
S......Page 540
T......Page 541
W......Page 542
Bibliography......Page 544
A......Page 552
B......Page 554
C......Page 555
D......Page 557
F......Page 559
G......Page 560
I......Page 561
K......Page 562
M......Page 563
P......Page 564
Q......Page 566
R......Page 567
S......Page 568
T......Page 571
U......Page 574
V......Page 575
Z......Page 576

✦ Subjects

Computer Science;Programming;Science;Technology;Nonfiction;Software;Technical;Business;Management;Computers;Reference