The History of Agile for Testers Part 2

Agile testing also requires less documentation. For the most part, many of the test cases come directly from acceptance criteria that are included in user stories. It specifically ensures that the development team gather regular feedback by receive feedback from a testing perspective after and during every sprint. All of this helps the scrum team identify issues in advance.  Testers are able to provide feedback on potential issues as well as issues that occur during the course of a sprint. The phases of testing are aligned with the phases of development. So for example, in the initiation phase when teams are establishing the project’s foundation, agile testers are involved. They are involved during the creation and evaluation of user stories. They are involved in discussing acceptance criteria and discuss the risks when it comes to the project.

Next in the implementation phase, which is when development is occurring for the agile project. As shared earlier, it’s a continuous activity that’s performed side by side with development. The end game is where team’s work is transition into production. So team take the code that they have developed throughout the implementation phase, and then release it to a production environment where users can actually use the code. In this phase, agile testing is still involved since production testing or a post-release testing may be required. And then finally, once builds are already in production, we may have agile testers involved in showing that the system is operating correctly and providing support for users of the system. Since testers have been involved in inspecting and checking the system at a high level of detail, the testers are equipped to provide information for users that may be using the system for the first time.

What makes an Agile tester?

The agile tester also works closely with the product owner to ensure that they really understand the product requirements and what their expectations are. And then by understanding those requirements, the tester is actually helping to improve and build a quality product by making sure that the developer’s work is actually fulfilling the requirements.

One of the important characteristics of a good agile tester is that they are a good communicator. Agile testers need to know and understand that face-to-face communication is the most effective form of communication, especially on agile teams and in agile projects. As such, they proactively engage the right people at the right time to make sure that the right information is getting from one area of the project to another.

Within an Agile team, each team member is responsible for product quality and agile testers role is evolving and inclusive of team’s goal for better, quicker and bug free product for clients.

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Our Book Recommendations

We found these books great for finding out more information on Agile Scrum: