The growing popularity of utilizing the Agile Development methodology to develop systems has changed the way software is tested. Certainly, high quality is still a requirement but the approaches, techniques and artifacts have changed. In Agile development, there is a common “principle” that for a specific period called a Sprint (usually 30 days), all software will be fully developed, tested and documented and “releasable ready” for production use.
This makes me think about quality and the delivery of system. Being a huge David Letterman fan, I would like to mention the top 10 (ten) keys for success when implementing QA within an Agile / Scrum Methodology.
- We’re all in this together! Quality is everyone’s responsibility.
- High Quality is still a requirement – That doesn’t change!
- Make sure the User Stories have acceptance criteria.
- Have an integration test plan
- Key Processes (Right-Size Weighted!)
- Concise Artifacts (War and Peace is Over!)
- Need Right Resources and Skill Sets
- Automation is critical in Scrum
- Data Management Setup/Maintenance
- Finally – Communicate among your team.
