G(r)ood testing 24: The need for (agile) test strategies

The test profession seems to be become more technical and more widespread. Teams should do their (automated) Unit and Functional tests. Additionally they need to focus on non-functional tests and integrate their work with that of the other teams. How do we keep overview and ensure that acceptance and organisational readiness tests are included in the equation as well. In my new column I write about the new keynote I have written for the SIGIST autumn conference. When working in a multiple team projects the chances that all test activities coincidently align are extremely small. I therefore conclude that even within agile projects there still is a need for test strategies.

You can read my plead in more detail on the Eurostar community pages:

G(r)ood testing 24: The need for Agile test strategies

New Book on Scrum: Manuscript is sent to the Editor

Last year Valori published the e-book “Agile in the real world, starting with Scrum“. Together with the Bits & Chips magazine I produced a practical guide for organizations that want to make the most of their Scrum implementation!

This e-book was a great success considering the responses we have received in recent months and the number of downloads. It confirms our analysis that many professionals are adopting Scrum or are seeking ways to get more out of their agile development process. Especially for them I decided to rework the eBook into a more substantial physical edition.

Artist impression of the physical book. The cover artwork is not yet finished but will look distinctive from the eBook cover.

For the physical book the original chapters have been revised and supplemented with more examples from the real world. The original text has been expanded with new chapters on the Scrum implementation model (the three stages that continue to be a Scrum transition), the refinement process, the preparation of the Definition of Done and using the definition of Ready. Finally I added tips for setting up the sprint review and the final chapter explains the relationship between the initial phases of the Scrum transition with the ultimate goal: Business Agility. This were I briefly put Scaling Agile, the operating model, product thinking and Governance into context.

I am pleased to announce that the manuscript is sent to the editor and I am awaiting the print-proof soon. The physical book is published in Dutch be available later this year. The before mentioned e-book is no longer available for download. But fill in your details on the form and you will receive notice as soon as the physical book is available.

BCS SIGIST Autumn 2016 Conference

Tomorrow (15 September) the British Computer Society will organize their Autumn Conference in London. The conference is organized by the SIGIST, the special interest group in Software Testing. We have an interesting line-up with a.o. talks on Automated test design (by Mark Harman), a software testing clinic in which young an new testers can get hands-on experience and get a feel on test skills that are needed. by Dan Ashby and Mark Winteringham. Neil Thomson will do a talk on Test Data. DevTestOps by John Stinson and John Karn will talk about team conflicts.

I am proud to offer a workshop on test progress reporting in Agile projects using subway mapping in which we will make our own one-page test progress report and learn how subway mapping can be used to put testing on the project management agenda.

I have to honor to close this inspiring day with a keynote in which I’ll search for de fundamentals in software testing and discus how they remain standing in a changing (read: more agile) world.

I hope to meet you in London, have a chat and a drink. More information can be found on the BSC website. The full program can be found here: SIGIST Program.

G(r)ood testing 23:

Together with colleague Kelvin Geerlings I wrote a Column in which we shared our experiences we had with End-to-End testing in larger agile projects.  This blog deals with the organisation of the End-to-End tests and how you can manage teams to adopt it in the sprints. It was originally published in Dutch, but got some requests for an English version.

You can find the column on the EuroSTAR community pages: G(r)ood testing 23: End-to-End integration in Scaled Agile projects

The Agile Organization Epic @ Valori Office

Today I sat down with Marja van Solkema to prepare the Agile Holland meet-up of 5 september.

Marja and her colleagues of the scrum coach school will challenge us to discover the characteristics of the ideal agile organisation. We will sit down in groups and exchange our ideas and experiences. The session will be held at our Valori Office in Nieuwegein.

Today I learned the limit of 30 participants has been reached, and there is even a waiting list. So if you did not subscribe yet for the meet-up, you’ll have to wait for the report of this session. Don’t want to wait: Find Marja’s first thoughts on The Agile Organization Epic here (in Dutch):  https://www.scrumcoachschool.com/blogs/

End-to-end testing in agile projects

 

Together with colleague Kelvin Geerlings I wrote a (dutch) blogpost in which we shared our experiences we had with End-to-End testing in larger agile projects.  The end-t0-end integration is a difficult challenge for agile teams that are good development teams, but often lack insight in the business processes, the relationships between the systems in the chain and are struggling with inter-team dependencies. Often we see the End-to-End integration being done by a separate team or not at all.

This blog deals with the organisation of the End-to-End tests and how you can manage teams to adopt it in the sprints. Currently it’s only available in Dutch, but if we get enough requests, it will be made available in English soon. You can read the dutch column here: ketenintegratie in scaled agile projecten.

Testing Talk – interview by Anthea Whelan of Proffesional Tester

For the June edition of Professional Tester I was interviewed by Anthea Whelan. In the interview I was asked about the Value of testing and how current trends influence the way we operate. She also asked me what things still surprise me. Want to know my answer? You can read the Testing Talk Interview in the Professional Tester magazine.

 

EuroSTAR webinar: T-shape and π-shaped testers

Last week Jan Jaap Cannegieter and I gave a webinar for EuroSTAR. We had circa a 100 participants that tuned in to learn about survival techniques for testers. In the webinar we shared the results of the workshops that we gave earlier and discussed the specialties that testers can develop to stay in demand as a professional. Jan Jaap and I enjoyed the Q&A afterwards very much. The recorded webinar is available on the EuroSTAR Testhuddle (you can watch it if you log-in to the test huddle or leave your email address).

You can also see the slides below:

Survival techniques for Testers-BEYOND THE T-SHAPED TESTER from Derk-Jan de Grood

In the webinar we refer to two blogposts in which we share the results of the workshops we did. You can read them here:

• Survival techniques for testers-beyond the T-shaped tester – EuroSTAR tutorial
• Survival techniques for testers-beyond the T-shaped tester – Testnet workshop

The Refinement process; Thinking ahead increases adaptively and the quality of the solution

Refinement is an important element of Scrum. It’s the process where the product backlog items for future sprints are prepared. Experience learns that when development teams get up to steam, the refinement process becomes a new bottleneck. The development team will have an insufficient number of items that comply with the (DoR) and crucial information that is needed to order the backlog is missing. How do you avoid this from happening?

Together with Marcel Schaar I wrote an article for Bits&Chips magazine in which we explain how thinking ahead during refinement increases adaptively and the quality of the solution. You can read the article (sorry in Dutch only) in de article section on this blog

Successful testing in waterfall projects? Agile goes undercover

Agile goes undercover on the EuroSTAR community pages. [image: www.reverbnation.com]

With Eric van de Mark, I was having a discussion on how we can improve testing when we are working in a traditional waterfall context. Often we can benefit a lot from agile practises, but it’s not always wise to wave the big Agile flag. Read the G(r)ood testing 22 column to learn more about our approach: WINO-Waterfall In Name Only. 

Train strike? Belgium Testing Days with discount!

Although there may be strikes, road works, security checks, and hailstorms the Belgium Testing Days is going strong. They have an excellent program with speakers such as Julian Harty, Doug Hoffman, Stuart Reid, Isabel Evans, Gil Zilberfeld and Mark Tomlinson.

Why lose a day of work that you can choose to spend strengthening your skills and blowing your network wide open? Join the BTD conference for the very special “Train Strike” price of  100€ per/day on Wednesday and Thursday!

“With this great offer, what’s keeping you from coming to Belgium TA discussions?”, says Mieke Gevers,”the BTD offers more hands-on workshops, Open Spaces, Round Table discussions, and significant networking opportunities than any other IT Quality Conference.”  You can register on the conference website.

[Webinar] Survival Techniques for Testers: Beyond the T-shaped Tester

The T-shaped tester (Rob Lambert, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory) combines need for general knowledge with advanced test skills to be successful. But testing is a versatile profession and demands are growing. Time to go beyond the T-shape and introduce the π-shaped tester. Extend your global knowledge (development, project management, agile etc) and test skills with yet another specialism to stay in demand, e.g. security, test automation, requirements. In this webinar Jan Jaap and I will report the results of our search for future needs. We will explain how we can survive as a tester and what skills and knowledge de we need to develop. In our story we include the responses we got from the 100 participants that joined the workshops we gave on this topic.

Check the EuroSTAR website for registration and details.

Integration testing at scaled agile projects

On 25 May the Software-Centric Systems Conference [SC]² conference was held on the High-tech campus in Eindhoven. During this event I hosted an interactive session where we investigated the relationship between the lever of integration and the time to market. Most organizations aim for Continues Integration and deployment, since they want to deliver their products fast. It takes a lot from organizations to get there (slide 4). To give an example, CI/CD assumes that you integrate frequently. But at what level do organizations integrate, and how do they test it. The graph on slide 9 shows that increasing the system (e.g. from Units tot Systems) results in less frequent integration, because it becomes harder to test the integration.

Making this clear to management enables to manage expectations or helps to target your next improvements. See below the annotated slides:

Free download of “Bepaal je koers, trends en toekomst in Testen”

After the workshop Survival Techniques for Testers- Beyond the T-shape that I gave last week on the TestNet event, I got a lot of requests for the jubilee book that we (Huib Schoots, Hans van Loenhoud, Derk-Jan de Grood,  Anko Tijman, Pepijn Vorst, Andreas Prins, Jeroen Rosink en Ard Kramer) wrote a few years ago.
In my workshop I referred to the book, because it’s still relevant today. I notice that there is a growing group of testers that want (or need) to re-orientate themselves. I have good news and bad news for those that came to our boot to ask for a copy of the book.

The bad news first, we ran out of copies.
The good news is, you can download the epub (in dutch) for free, just click the button below:

Scaling Agile with Less

Previously I posted a link to the ASK matrix. This Matrix compares various agile frameworks. I revisited the site and noticed two things.

1. It has been updated
2. The content of the matrix means much more to me, after I had the Less  and Nexus training.

The matrix comes alive much more now, since I start to understand Agile Scaling better and better. And the true meaning behind the short descriptions in the matrix are much clearer than they were before.

If you want to know more about Scaling Agile, and live in the Netherlands, the Less training I had might be a good one for you also. Valori and Casario Ramos (from Agilix) are co-operating to deliver the Less training in may and september this year. More for information and registration see the LESS training page.