Is your “QA process” ready for Agile?

The growing popularity of utilizing the Agile Development methodology to develop systems has changed the way software is tested.

However, you also have to ask yourself the question? Are you ready from a QA perspective?

Let’s think about QA as it relates to Agile the questions you need to answer for yourself. If you say ‘no’ to any of these questions then you do really have to consider whether your ready.

• Do you have a ‘automatic’ regression test that can be run on a night basis?
• Is your build process automated and then tested against?
• Have you developed an “integrated” testing team that can lead and test successfully during a sprint?
• Have you looked at your current QA Tools and will they work in an Agile methodology?
• Are your ‘QA artifacts” right weighted for Agile?
• What important QA Metrics are important and operational for successful Agile sprints?
• Is your team makeup right for Agile?

These are just some of the things to consider. If you said “NO” to only few of these questions then you probably will not be successful.

In our last few blog entries, we’ve explored how to develop a compelling, whiz-bang case for test automation and how to develop an SDLC for automation development. In this entry, we’d like to answer the following question: How do you determine appropriate automation selection criteria?

In his article, “Automation Selection Criteria – Picking the “Right” Candidates,” Bob Galen makes the following two assumptions:

One of the basic assumptions I’m making for this article is that you’ve been creating test cases and manually testing as an organization for a while. That is, you’ve built up some sort of repository of manual test cases that are potential automation “candidates”. Given that you can’t automate everything at once, the question of where to start and how to properly orchestrate your efforts over time becomes a challenge. Read More>>

I’m also assuming that you do not have infinite resources nor time to produce visible results. That is, you have other testing responsibilities besides the automation, for example testing and releasing your products. So prioritization and establishing a work balance becomes a challenge as well. Read More>>

Galen then explores the behavioral patterns that impede testing automation, explains the common strategies that are succesful for testing automation, and how to change your selection criteria when your circumstances change.

This article is chock-full of a lot of thought and detail that we encourage you to read for yourself. Then we invite you to come back to our blog and share your experiences with testing automation—whether you’ve gotten mired down in impediments or you’ve tried one of Bob’s strategies for success successfully or how you accomplished a change in selection criteria.