Agile Mthodlogies and testing

 What is Agile Testing? 

Agile as the name refers implies something to do very quickly. Hence Agile Testing refers  to validate the client requirements as soon as possible and make it customer friendly. As soon as the build is out, testing is expected to get started and report the bugs quickly if any found. As a Tester, you need to provide your thoughts on the client requirements rather than just being the audience at the other end. Emphasis has to be laid down on the quality of the deliverable in spite of short time frame which will further help in reducing the cost of development and your feedbacks will be implemented in the code which will avoid the defects coming from the end user.

1)Agile Methodlogies Tutorials and scrums in action part 1

                       

 2.) Agile Methodlogies Tutorials and scrums in action part2

 

 Advantages offered by Agile Methodology:

1) Agile Methodology offers to other approaches available is that in case there is any Change request or enhancements come in between any phase, it can be implemented without any budget constraint though there needs to be some adjustment in the already allotted time frame which will not be a difficult task for the projects following Agile tactics.

2)Agile development accelerates the delivery of initial business value, and through a process of continuous planning and feedback, is able to ensure that value is continuing to be maximized throughout the development process.

3)Easily adapting to changing requirements throughout the process.

4.)Daily meetings and discussions for the project following Agile approach can help to determine the issues well in advance and work on it accordingly. Quick coding and Testing makes the management aware of the gaps existing in either requirements or technology used and can try to find the workaround for the same.

Scrum Methodlogy

Scrum is an agile process that allows us to focus on delivering the highest business value in the shortest time.

It allows us to rapidly and repeatedly inspect actual working software (every two weeks to one month).The business sets the priorities. Our teams self-manage to determine the best way to deliver the highest priority features. Every two weeks to a month anyone can see real working software and decide to release it as is or continue to enhance for another iteration

How the scrums works?

1.The Sprint

The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a “Done”, useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created. Sprints have consistent durations throughout a development effort. A new Sprint starts immediately after the conclusion of the previous Sprint.Sprints contain and consist of the Sprint Planning Meeting, Daily Scrums, the development work, the Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective.

During the Sprint:

1 No changes are made that would affect the Sprint Goal;

2 Development Team composition and quality goals remain constant; and,

3  Scope may be clarified and re-negotiated between the Product Owner and Team as more is learned

 

2.Product Backlog

The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product and is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product. The Product Owner is responsible for the Product Backlog, including its content, availability, and ordering.

 

During the Product backlog

1.A list of all desired work on the project

2.Usually a combination of story-based work (“let user search and replace”)task-based work (“improve exception handling”)

3.List is prioritized by the Product Owner

4. Typically a Product Manager, Marketing, Internal Customer, etc

Sample Product Backlog

Sprint Backlog

A Sprint Backlog is a detailed task-list. It details how The Team plans to accomplish the Product Backlog items it has committed to.This short definition captures the simple core idea of the Sprint Backlog. More elaborate and alternative definitions are found at the end of this post.

Features are broken down into tasks; as a best practice, tasks are normally estimated between four and sixteen hours of work. With this level of detail the whole team understands exactly what to do, and anyone can potentially pick a task from the list. Tasks on the sprint backlog are never assigned; rather, tasks are signed up for by the team members as needed, according to the set priority and the team member skills. The sprint backlog is the property of the Team. Estimations are set by the 

 Points to be remember 

1.)No more than 300 tasks in the list.

2.)If a task requires more than 16 hours, it should be broken down 

3.)Team can add or subtract items from the list. Product Owner is not allowed to do it

Sample of  SPRINT BACKLOG 

 Monitoring Sprint Progress

 In oder to track the scrum process  The developement  team  use Sprint burn down charts.

 Sprint burn down charts specifies following 

1.  Depicts the total Sprint Backlog hours remaining per day.

2.  Shows the estimated amount of time to release.

      3.The Sprint-Burndown-Chart is updated on a daily basis by the team - often before the     meeting of the next work day

 Sample of  SPRINT BURN DOWN CHART

 

The Roles of Scrum

Scrum has three fundamental roles: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and team member