The Changing Face of Test Management in an Agile World
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The Changing Face of Test Management A reflection on test management, past, present and future Ben Williams & Tom Roden #StarEast
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Transcript of The Changing Face of Test Management in an Agile World
The Changing Face of Test Management
A reflection on test management, past, present and future
Ben Williams & Tom Roden #StarEast
About Us
Ben Williams – Agile Coach @13enWilliams
Tom Roden – Agile Coach & Test <something> @TommRoden
“As agile methods continue to replace traditional, the role of test manager will cease to exist.
Test managers will cover a different role, with a broader scope, utilising a different skillset.
Teams will assume more accountability for test activities, above and beyond what they may have done in the past”
Our Hypothesis
Test manager is not the same as
Test management
Test management of the past (parody)
Analysis
Blue sky, thought showering ideation
Development
Implement
All conceivable testing
Utterly Immovable Live Date
All conceivable testing, hey maybe even unit testing ☺
Test Planning
1. Random dev-test ratio estimation
2. The narrow-band faux-Delphi
3. The project manager Pareto
Test Estimation Techniques
Exploratory testing =
Smoke testing =
Stress testing =
Penetration testing =
We say… They hear…
Step 1. Remove brain
Step 2. Login to Quality Centre
Step 3. Follow 67 more steps of set-up and screen navigation, but don’t look at how the application is behaving
Step 4. Test fails for reason unrelated to test step
Step 5. Step 4 does not compute with script, loop thru step 4 until sickness or darkness descends
If the test didn’t find the defect, does the defect really exist?
Stay On Target
Test Management of the Present (at a junction?)
Our underlying assumptions
Agile is still on the increase
Computer Weekly Jobs, 8th November 2012
There is no prescribed Test Manager role in Agile methods
What does this mean?
What are the choices for traditional test managers?
Stay in the market for traditional Test Management?
http://rontalk.com/
Get into another profession entirely?
http://byrev.org/
Make the voyage into Agile?
Any other options
?
Exploring the move to Agile…
What roles are there in Agile?Feature Team
Member
Product Owner Scrum Master
Coach? Project Manager?
Test Manager?
Development Manager?
?
We did a survey…
Has the role changed?• 90% have experienced a change in responsibilities
How many have experienced a change?
lots of peoplealmost no-‐one
People reported an increase in…– Coaching practices & techniques – Mentoring – Stakeholder Management – Cross team knowledge
People reported a decrease in…– Planning – Reporting – Test Strategies – Project admin – Project and Programme Management – Reviewing Documentation
People reported no change in…– Budgeting & Staffing
– Training
– Governance & project assurance
– Reviewing tests
– Unblocking
– Metrics & instrumentation
Test Management of the Future
“As agile methods continue to replace traditional, the role of test manager will cease to exist.
Test managers will cover a different role, with a broader scope, utilising a different skillset.
Teams will assume more accountability for test activities, above and beyond what they may have done in the past”
Our Hypothesis
It Makes an interesting workshop
Inside the team or
Outside the team
Defect management?
Inside the team Outside the team
Test Automation?
Inside the team Outside the team
Test Tool Selection?
Inside the team Outside the team
Principles & Strategy?
Inside the team Outside the team
Principles of Testing
Source – Tom Roden & Paul Wilford 2013, SQS
Building self-regulation
Other areas to consider…• Remove testing obstacles
• Stimulate improvement in Testing
• Foster a collective quality conscience
• Converge and disperse knowledge
• Help make Testing visible
• Instrument the hell out of stuff
• Get in there and test, pair, run spec workshops
• Mentoring, coaching and extended learning
• Talent acquisition and skills liquidity
In order that you ensure quality As a team member I want you to be responsible for a lot more
There should be no-one with the job title
Test Manager in Agile Organisations!!!
This isn’t Management
Test “Managers”, the point is…
Stop Managing Start enabling!!!
What do YOU do?
Ben Williams – [email protected] @13enWilliams
Tom Roden – [email protected] @TommRoden
