Agile Testing Days 2014 Keynote - Helping Testers Add Value on Agile Projects

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Helping Testers Add Value to Agile Projects

Alan Richardson

EvilTester.com@eviltester

SeleniumSimplified.comJavaForTesters.com

CompendiumDev.co.uk

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Warren Zevon (1947 - 2003)“Ain't that pretty at all”, The Envoy, 1982

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We can get Jaded & Disillusioned

Well, I've seen all there is to see

And I've heard all they have to say

I've done everything I wanted to do . . .

I've done that too

Warren Zevon, “Ain't that pretty at all”, 1982

“

”

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Reality doesn't match our wants

And it ain't that pretty at all.

Ain't that pretty at all.“

”

Warren Zevon, “Ain't that pretty at all”, 1982

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We may not have strategies to cope

So I'm going to hurl myself against the wall

'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all

“

”

Warren Zevon, “Ain't that pretty at all”, 1982

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Sometimes my job...

I've been to ParisAnd it ain't that pretty at allI've been to Rome

Guess what?

“

”

Warren Zevon, “Ain't that pretty at all”, 1982

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… the real world is what it is

And sometimes it ain't that pretty at all

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I help testers survive in Agile Projects

● …by working with 'reality' rather than an ideal

● ...by adding 'value'● ...by becoming a

viable part of the project

The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 1, IDW Publishing

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Thank you for everything, Westley,

good night now,I'll probably kill you

in the morning.

The Dread Pirate Roberts,as quoted by S. Morgenstern,

in “The Princess Bride”,abridged by William Goldman

for text and screenpage 165, 1976, Pan Books Ltd

”

“

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“I'm here to make you look good”

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“I'm here to make you look good”

not

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“I'm here to make you look good”

not

side-effect

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If you do this automatically, then keep doing it, because you do it, but don't start thinking

it adds value, or helps you fit in.

Survival != Fitting In

● Lunching● Raconteur● Buying Doughnuts● <insert fluffy people stuff> ● ...etc.

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Survival == Adding Value by Doing Testing Stuff

● Finding problems● Checking Acceptance Criteria● Testing● Making your Test Coverage Visible● Pairing on ATDD● …etc.

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We survive when we learn to adapt to the System Of Development

...we already know how to work with the System Under Development

The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 1, IDW Publishing

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“I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over

the Fall”

Annie Edson Taylor,after surviving her Niagra Falls

Waterfall Barrel Drop

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84036008/1901-10-25/ed-1/seq-1/

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I Survived Waterfall

● By removing waste● By responding to need, not want● By exploring more● By taking responsibility for my testing rather

than conforming to 'the process'

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I must create a system. or be enslav'd by another Mans; I will not reason & compare: my business is to create

William Blake, 1820

Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion

http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=jerusalem.e.illbk.10&java=no

“

”

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I remember a time before I worked on an Agile Project

● Based on reading the hype: the books, the articles, etc. I sooooo wanted out of Waterfall.– … the utopia

– … the ideal● Building the 'beliefs' about how Agile works● Building 'models' of the ideal process

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I remember the first time I worked on an 'Agile' Project

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I remember the first time I worked on an 'Agile' Project

And it ain't that pretty at all.Ain't that pretty at all.

”

“

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I Got Stuck

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Stuck on...

● Being asked to write a test strategy● 'Poor' Stories and Acceptance Criteria● Pairing badly on TDD● Not knowing how to add value around the

automated tests● Knowing that no-one else knew what to do with

a 'tester' on the team– I thought there was something 'special' about Agile

– I thought “they'd” know

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So I did what I always do...

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So I did what I always do...

...try to take over the world!“

”

Pinky and 'The Brain'http://www.warnervideo.com/pinkyandthebrain/downloads/pinkydvd2_2_1280x1024.jpg

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So I did what I always do...

...think about it as a system...

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I think, I work with systems...

e.g.● Software Systems● People Systems

– Individuals, Teams, Departments, etc.

● Tools & Support Systems● Processes

Input, Output, Process, Relationships, Feedback, Fitness for Survival, etc.

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What I did

● My Java knowledge wasn't good enough to add value when pairing with devs, so I improved my Java knowledge

● My TDD knowledge wasn't very good, so I built some code using TDD

● I didn't understand the technology we were using, so I researched the technology

I made myself comfortable pairing, working on, and reading the code base

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What I did● I looked close

– at the existing TDD code to look for gaps. Then manually tested gap or added more JUnit code

● I looked far– What does the system do? How do we know it

does?

– What do the requirements want? Do they get it?

– What do we think we had 'Done'? Had we?

– How does this thing connect? Together. With Others.

– Added automation with wider scope

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What I did

● Made my 'thinking' visible in the wiki● Made my 'testing' visible by adding work and

notes in the tracking system● Looked for new tools to help me 'see' the

System working

No-one else knew what testing was supposed to look like, or do, so I made it visible.

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What I did

● Considered 'risks' that the stories didn't cover– Performance

– Multiple Users

– Extreme Data

● Then targeted those 'risks' with 'testing'

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So I did what I always did...

● map 'test process' around existing processes● I improved my specific skills for the project● I filled in gaps

– asked questions about requirements

– automation coverage

...I decided what to do.

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I got hung up on 'Agile'. And I got stuck.

When I viewed it as a System, I got free.

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I decided what to do

● Ignoring the expectations I had from 'Agile'● I worked with what was currently happening

● 'Beliefs', 'Ideals', 'Research', 'Discussion' all help decide what to do next, and how to improve, but not what to do 'now'

● To work with 'now' I modelled the process as a 'system', with 'relationships', expectations, aims etc.

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With Experience I learned...

● “Every Agile project is different, we know this, we don't do things 'by the book' on Agile projects.

● We learn, we interact, we change. ● We write the book we go along. ● Throughout all of this, testing needs to remain

viable, and it needs to add value. ● Remaining viable in this kind of environment

can be hard.”

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With Experience I learned...That, while I value on the items on the right, I

value the items on the left more.

● Systems Thinking● Cybernetics● General Semantics● Hypnosis● Brief Therapy● Chinese Strategy

Philosophy

● Agile Books● Agile Blogs● Agile Webinars &

Lectures● Agile Articles● Lean Software Books,

Blogs, etc.

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With Experience I learned...That, while I value on the items on the right, I

value the items on the left more.

● Systems Thinking● Cybernetics● General Semantics● Hypnosis● Brief Therapy● Chinese Strategy

Philosophy

● Agile Books● Agile Blogs● Agile Webinars &

Lectures● Agile Articles● Lean Software Books,

Blogs, etc.

Loot, Pillage,

Raid and Steal

from other

disciplines

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I still have “beliefs” about Agile

● Flexible● More Open to Suggestion● More Free to Experiment● Etc.

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But do not call me a QA

I do not like that name QA,

I do not like it, not at all, QA we do not say.

“Tester!”, I do say,

“It describes me bester, and how I play”

So its far bester, to say tester,

And do not call me a QA

http://seuss.wikia.com/wiki/File:GREEN-EGGS.jpg QA

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“I've Helped Testers Survive on Agile Projects”

● New Testers (inexperienced)● Experienced Testers New To Agile● Experienced Agile Testers

● Mostly by: dealing with their beliefs and expectations, adapting their techniques

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To the creative mind there is no right or wrong. Every action is an experiment, and every experiment yields its fruit in knowledge.

The Illuminatus TrilogyRobert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson

“

”

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I try to foster an attitude of...

● Ownership for the tester's 'testing'● Exploration beyond Acceptance Criteria● Thinking about systems of 'behaviour', 'needs

and wants'● Improvement of self and test process● Improvement of team and project process● Speaking from individual experience● Survival – assume that if you're not adding

value, you're gone

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only variety can absorb variety

● Stafford Beer restating Ross Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety – “Designing Freedom” published

by John Wiley & Sons, 1974, on page 30

“”

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“only variety can absorb variety”

● Team's absorb behaviour and respond

– “Designing Freedom” by Stafford Beer, published by John Wiley & Sons, 1974, diagram from page 31

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The real world...

● is messy, and may not map to the books

“And it ain't that pretty at all”

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Helping Testers Survive, and Add Value to Agile Projects

Alan Richardson

EvilTester.com@eviltester

SeleniumSimplified.comJavaForTesters.com

CompendiumDev.co.uk