The Whole Team Approach to Agile Testing

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THE WHOLE TEAM APPROACH TO AGILE TESTING

Course Description:

    Run as a three-day classroom style training course

This is the only course based on Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin’s best-selling Agile
Testing and More Agile Testing books. Participants learn ways the whole software
delivery team can collaborate to plan and execute testing activities needed to build
quality into their product. Through lecture, discussion and hands-on simulations, the
course explains essential principles and practices, including:

  • How testing fits into the short iterations and frequent deliveries in agile projects
  • Contributions testers can make to become valued agile team members
  • Common cultural and logistical obstacles in transitioning to an agile development process
  • Values and principles that help team members adopt an agile testing mindset
  • How the whole team contributes to the success of testing practices, such as acceptance-test driven development (ATDD), test automation, and exploratory testing.

The course is filled with real-life examples of how teams collaborate to deliver high-value, high-quality software. A simulation of an agile project wraps up the whole course giving participants an opportunity to put all the puzzle pieces together, to practice what they have learned. You’ll leave with practical skills and techniques you and your team can start using right away.

The course is ideal for testers, developers, ScrumMasters, managers, anyone on who wants to learn what testing means on an agile team. Everyone will benefit from understanding their contribution and the interaction with testers on the team. Basic agile knowledge is recommended so the participants can actively contribute with questions and shared experiences.

This course can award the ICAgile’s ICP-TST certification (Agile Testing).

Learn how to:
Understand how testers contribute on agile teams, how agile teams successfully cover all dimensions of software quality in short release cycles and collaborate to deliver the “right” business value at frequent, consistent intervals.

Is this course for you?
The course is aimed at anyone on who wants to learn what testing means on an agile team. All team members will benefit from understanding their contribution and the interaction with testers on the team. Test/QA and development managers, who work with testers, will also find the course valuable. Basic agile knowledge is recommended so the participants can actively contribute with questions and shared experiences.

Register now or Contact us to discuss your needs.

Prerequisites

Intended participants should have either completed the ICP (Agile Certified Professional) course or some other Agile fundamentals course. Alternatively, participants should have spent some time as an Agile team member.

Intended Audience

The course is ideal for testers, developers, iteration facilitators, team leads, managers, anyone on who wants to learn what testing means on an agile team. Everyone will benefit from understanding their contribution and the interaction with testers on the team. Basic agile knowledge is recommended so the participants can actively contribute with questions and shared experiences.

The course is intended for all team members and those working with Agile teams. An Agile team includes all those tasked with building and delivering the project including the builders/developers, testers, designers, business analysts, project managers and anyone else aligned with delivery.

Course Outline

The course will cover the following content and more:

Agile: What is it and How Testing Fits in? – Module 1

  • Overview of agile terminology
    • Agile principles – what does it mean to a tester
    • Brief intro to Scrum, XP, other agile processes
  • SDLC – Introduce agile testing activities and approach

Adapting to Agile – Module 2

  • The whole-team approach
    • Roles and responsibilities; collaboration
  • Overcoming common obstacles
    • Cultural Issues; mini-waterfalls
  • Transitioning typical processes
    • Defect tracking
    • Quality models, traceability

Making Test Automation Work

  • Using Automation So testing “Keeps up”
    • Value of automation
    • Barriers to Automation
  • Developing an Agile Automation Strategy
    • Using the Test Automation Pyramid for maximum benefit
    • What should and shouldn’t be automated
    • A bit about test design
  • Applying agile principles
  • Evaluating tools
  • Managing automated tests

Testing Activities at the Release and Feature Level – Module 4

  • Agile approach to planning
  • Levels of precision / dependencies / multiple levels
  • Slicing stories, with thin slice / steel thread approach
  • How testers contribute to sizing your stories
  • Alternatives to large test plans
  • Release-level test plan matrix
  • Discussions on test results, metrics, coverage

Testing Approaches for Agile Testing – Module 5

  • Guiding development with tests (ATDD)
  • Using the Agile Testing Quadrants
    • Introduction: vocabulary, benefits
    • Tests that guide development, foundation for quality
    • Tests to evaluate the product
  • Exploratory Testing
  • Testing for Quality Attributes

Testing Activities during the Iteration – Module 6

  • Story Readiness
  • Iteration Planning
    • Roles, creating tasks
  • During the Iteration – Coding & Testing
    • Collaboration
    • Expanding tests, exploratory testing
    • Customer acceptance, regression tests,
  • The iteration demo
  • Retrospectives – improving your process
  • Celebrating success

Iteration Simulation

  • Includes Iteration planning, code and test, automation, demo,
    retrospective
  • Debrief Iteration Simulation

The End Game – Module 7

  • What is the end game, and what is required for successful delivery
  • Release retrospective

Key Success Factors & Wrap-Up – Module 8

  • Seven Factors for Agile Testing Success, and Confidence Building
    Practices

Wrap-Up

  • Discussion back to original problems that participants are experiencing

Some of the feedback we receive on our courses

  • Great course for me. I learned a lot
  • Great course. Enjoyed the fact that we related it to Stats
  • It was super good! 🙂
  • Excellent course. Covered the basics. Consolidated my understanding of Agile. Enjoyed the exercises and case studies
  • Used simple terms to explain things. Lots of time for discussion and ideas. Kept the class engaged with real-life scenarios
  • It was great, hope to hear more about the other courses
  • Thank you, I found the course extremely useful. Even though I am experienced in Scrum, it was excellent to see how we can improve and become more Agile.
  • Really informative and enjoyable
  • Really enjoyable course and excellent presenter
  • Time well spent
  • Very informative and practical
  • I really enjoyed the course and got a lot from it.  I have and will recommend
  • Thoroughly enjoyed the course
  • I enjoyed attending this course because all attendees were from our organisation and we could discuss things that we’re doing currently.
  • It was a helpful one to understand Agile and identify gaps between Agile and our current practice.
  • I found the course very useful as I currently have a Scrum Master certificate but this course covered a few more things and how to make scrum work well in an Agile way.
  • Great course it verified that I knew some of the Agile processes and it covered any gaps that I had and answered my questions.  Course content covered heaps
  • The course was well presented, took into account the existing agile knowledge and experience of the attendees.