Post on 03-Aug-2015
Build Quality In
Agile Roots 2015Salt Lake City
Lisa Crispin Janet Gregory@lisacrispin @janetgregoryca
Sharing Testing Expertise for Product Success
Copyright 2015
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc2
A little about us
JanetFirst agile team: 2000
Currently coaching, trainingTwitter: janetgregoryca
Email: janet@agiletester.ca
Agile Testing; 2009More Agile Testing: Oct 2014
Website: www.agiletester.com
www.agiletester.ca
Lisa First agile team – 2000
Currently tester on Pivotal Tracker teamTwitter: lisacrispin
Email: lisa@agiletester.ca
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc3
Let’s find out about you!
What roles do you normally play? Raise your hand if you are primarily a ……• tester• programmer• business analyst / domain expert• manager• iteration manager / ScrumMaster
Did you bring your curiosity and problems solving skills today?
If you’re sitting with a table group with several people in your specialty, you might like to switch tables to get the most value out of our exercises.
Are you at the right table?
Ways to:• Involve the whole team• Identify skills needed to build your T-shaped
skill set• Grow square-shaped team skill sets • that enable the team to build quality in• to transfer testing skills
“Give-aways”
Exercise - Your skills: ~5 minutes
• What’s in your testing toolbox?• Write down the skills you can contribute to
your team that help build in quality • ONE skill per sticky note
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc9
How do we define quality?
• "Quality is value to some person.” – Jerry Weinberg
• Internal vs external quality•What does it mean to you and your team?
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc10
What’s your team’s commitment to quality?
• Everyone will say they want high quality…
• Get the team together to discuss: what level of quality can you commit to?
• Make the commitment mean something
Breadth of Skills
Dep
th o
f S
kills
Square-shaped Team
See links for more by Rob Lambert and Adam P. Knight
What might be in a team’s toolbox? Group Exercise – 12 minutes
1. Put everyone’s sticky notes of skills on a wall chart.
2. Group similar ones.3. Discuss the skills each specialty can bring.4. Who else on a software team might bring
additional skills that help build in quality?5. Prioritize the skills needed (groupings)
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Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc13
Some collaborative techniques
ConversationsUse modelsUse patternsPairBrown bag lunchesBook clubsRetrospectives
Show by exampleGroup exercisesPlay gamesDrawing (ex. mind maps)ExperimentLearning timeCoaching
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc14
Patterns to affect change
Fearless Change (2008) & More Fearless Change (2015) by MaryLynn Manns and Linda Rising
#1 Just Enough: To ease learners into difficult concepts of a new idea, give a brief intro and make more info available when they are ready
#2 Persistent PR: Keep the new idea visible by placing reminders throughout the organization, for example, the team work area.
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc15
Exercise - Experiments: 20 minutes
Take top 2 prioritized skills from the last exercise1. Identify possible collaborative solutions (5-10 min)
2. Try these out with other team members (10-15 min)
Debrief• Did any work particularly
well?
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Building Quality In
• You can be a change agent!
• Make them team problems to solve
• Bring up quality and testing issues in standups, retrospectives
• Get the whole team involved
• Transfer skills
• Experiment!
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc17
There’s not one right way
Find ways that you can add value to your team
And then …. keep learning
Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc
More Learning•Knight, Adam P., "T-shaped Tester, Square Shaped Team",
http://thesocialtester.co.uk/t-shaped-tester-square-shaped-team/, 2013
•Lambert, Rob, "T-shaped Testers and Their Role In a Team", http://thesocialtester.co.uk/t-shaped-testers-and-their-role-in-a-team/ , 2012
•Levison, Mark, "The Beginner's Mind - An Approach to Listening", http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/08/beginners_mind, InfoQ, 2008
•McMillan, Darren, "Mind Mapping 101", for Testing: http://www.bettertesting.co.uk/content/?p=956, 2011
•Fearless Change, 2008 and More Fearless Change, 2015, Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising, Addison-Wesley
• Gärtner, Markus, ATDD By Example, Markus Gärtner, 2012, Addison-Wesley
• Adzic, Gojko – all his books! Some with David Evans and Tomm Roden.
• Henderson, Elisabeth, Expore It! 2013, Pragmatic Bookshelf
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Copyright 2015 : Lisa Crsipin, Janet Gregory – DragonFire Inc
Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams
More Agile Testing: Learning Journeys for the Whole Team
By Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin www.agiletester.cawww.agiletester.com
Contact infowww.janetgregory.caEmail: janet@agiletester.caTwitter: janetgregoryca
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lisacrispin.comEmail: lisa@agiletester.caTwitter: lisacrispin