Creating Customer Value through Agile Testing

Ben Walters (benwal@microsoft.com) Director of Program Management

Visual Studio Test and Lab Management, Microsoft Corporation

Value • New Ways of Conducting Business

• Faster, more Streamlined Organizations

• Reduced Cost, Increased Return

• Improved Customer Service, Higher Satisfaction

Differentiation = Competitive Advantage

Risk • Complex or Unique!

• Hasn’t Been Done Before

• Or is too complex to Buy

• Do you know Exactly What you Need?

Differentiation = Custom Software

Change • Technological Evolution and Revolution

• The Art of Software Creation

• Customer Requirements

is the Only Constant

Changing Customer Requirements

The Rise Of Agile

By 2012, agile development

methods will be

utilized in 80% of all

software development

projects. (Gartner Predicts 2010: Agile and Cloud Impact Application Development Directions, Gartner, Dec 2009)

80

%

Changing the Face of Software Development

Agile Consensus

Flow of Value

Reduction of Waste

Increased Transparency

3 Fundamental Principles:

Result in More Successful Outcomes By:

Decreasing Risk

Improving Quality

Dev Dev Dev Dev Dev

The Art of Software Creation Collaboration: The ‘90s: Basic Tools

Early tools focused on isolated tasks, such as source control

PM Devs DB Test Arch

The Art of Software Creation The ‘00s: LEAN Software Engineering

Trustworthy Transparency bridges the team bridges

Agile Quality Assurance

“my testers are spending too long testing the same thing” “developers and testers work in silos

and don’t communicate/speak the same language” “we have a changed requirement,

what do I need to test?”

“By the time we found a major issue with the architecture it was too late to economically fix it”

“when is my software ready to ship?” “the developers say the

defects are useless”

Common Concerns for Test/QA Managers

“my testers are spending too long testing the same thing”

“developers and testers work in silos and don’t communicate/speak the same language”

“we have a changed requirement, what do I need to test?”

“By the time we found a major issue with the architecture it was too late to economically fix it”

“when is my software ready to ship?”

“the developers say the defects are useless”

“how do we test software without a specification?”

Common Concerns for Test/QA Managers

A process comparison spectrum

Unplanned Planned Adaptive Predictive

What is QA’s role?

Participating in predictive projects

Developer

Tester Business Analyst

One Team

Participating in adaptive projects

Developer

Tester Product Owner

BREAK it?

How can I

Cost to fix defects throughout the lifecycle

1x 5x

10x

15x

30x

Requirements,

Analysis,

Design

Coding/Unit

Test

Integration and

System Test

Beta Test

Programs

Post-product

Release

Source: The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Infrastructure for Software Testing, NIST

The mini-waterfall trap

Requirements

Code

Test

Code and Fix

Iteration 1

Requirements

Code

Test

Code and Fix

Iteration 2

Requirements

Code

Test

Code and Fix

Iteration 3

Active

Participation

Requirements

Design

Standups

Story Development

Feedback

Retrospectives

Perspective

Empathy and Feedback

That’s what we asked for, but it’s not what we need.”

“

The role of QA in Agile teams

• Critical thinking throughout the cycle

• Discovering unstated requirements

• Scenario focused viewpoint

• End user proxy

Tools and Techniques

Testing Agile Requirements

Stories

Storyboards

Exploratory

Testing

Automation

and

Regression

Testing

Stakeholder

feedback

Visual Requirements

80% Today

100% Tomorrow

EXPLORE

Never

REGRESS

Feedback • Requirements and Tests

• Priorities

• Working Software

In Conclusion ALM is all about delivering maximum value to the

customer

Agile testing is about applying QA skills to create

value throughout the development cycle

Agile techniques and tools that implement them help

you accelerate value creation in your projects

Questions…