This document outlines an agenda and discussion topics for an advanced agile testing workshop. The workshop will use collaborative problem solving and various brainstorming techniques. Attendees will work in groups to identify testing problems, set goals, and generate experiments to tackle issues. Techniques that will be used include impact mapping, brainwriting, drawing, and discussing solutions if participants had "superpowers". The goal is for attendees to leave with concrete experiments to help address their biggest testing challenges.

1. Advanced
Topics
in
Agile
Tes0ng
CodeMash
Precompiler
2014
Lisa
Crispin
Co-­‐Author
with
Janet
Gregory,
Agile
Tes)ng:
A
Prac)cal
Guide
for
Testers
and
Agile
Teams,
and
the
upcoming
More
Agile
Tes)ng

2. The
day…
Maybe!
1. Introduc0ons
2. What
do
we
want
to
talk
about
3. Priori0ze
4. Then
start
tackling
one
problem
at
a
0me.
We’ll
try
a
few
brainstorming
techniques.
2

3. Expecta0ons
• Collabora0ve,
problem
solving
aRtude,
open
• Workshop
–
Explore
some
new
fron0ers!
• Some
slides
–
if
we
need
them
for
explana0on
• You’ll
leave
with
some
experiments
to
help
with
your
biggest
problems
and
goals
3

4. What
might
we
talk
about?
It’s
up
to
you!
Possible
topics:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Impact
mapping
Agile
tes0ng
quadrants
T-­‐shaped
Skillsets
Mind
mapping
Selec0ng
tools
Technical
debt
Enterprise
environment
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Distributed
teams
Out-­‐sourcing
Automa0on
Pairing
paYerns
Experimen0ng
Regulatory
environment
Others????
4

5. Introduc0ons
What
do
your
specialty?
What’s
your
goal
for
today?
If
possible,
get
some
diverse
special0es
in
your
table
group.
5

6. Next:
• Iden0fy
problems,
set
SMART
goals
• Brainstorm
experiments
to
achieve
goals
and
reduce
problem
size
– Experiment
with
different
brainstorming
tools
– Impact
mapping,
mind
mapping,
drawing
on
the
whiteboard,
brain
wri0ng,
super
powers
• We’ll
share
stories
and
experiences

7. In
table
groups:
1. Write
down
biggest
tes0ng-­‐related
problems
for
your
own
team,
one
per
s0cky
note
2. Group
similar
ones
3. Dot
vote
to
priori0ze
4. Set
SMART
goal
for
highest
priority
problem

8. Impact
Mapping
•
•
•
•
Why
are
we
doing
this?
Who
can
help?
Hinder?
Who
is
impacted?
How
can
they
help
or
hinder?
Impacts
What
can
we
do
to
support
impacts?
Deliverables
8

9. Example
Impact
Map
Based
on
example
at
hYp://impactmapping.org,
Gojko
Adzic
Recommended
book:
Impact
Mapping
9

10. Impact
Map
Stakeholders
/
personas
Impacts
Possible
deliverables
Possible
deliverables
10

11. Round
1:
Brainstorm
using
impact
mapping
Take
your
group’s
highest
priority
goal.
That’s
the
“Why?”
of
your
impact
map.
Create
an
impact
map
with
Whos,
Hows
for
each
Who,
and
Whats
for
each
How.
What’s
the
first
experiment
you’d
try?
Choose
one
path
in
the
map
to
share
with
other
groups.
11

12. Round
1:
Outcomes
Experiments
Stories
12

13. Round
2:
Brainstorm
using
Brainwri0ng
For
your
second-­‐highest-­‐priority
goal:
• Each
of
you
take
a
sheet
of
paper.
• Write
your
ideas
for
ways
to
work
towards
the
goal
on
the
paper.
• Ager
three
minutes,
pass
your
paper
to
the
next
person.
• Read
the
ideas
on
the
paper
you
got,
and
add
more
of
your
own.
• Con0nue
un0l
each
person
has
wriYen
on
each
paper.
13

14. Round
2:
Outcomes
Experiments
Stories
14

15. Communica0ng
around
a
whiteboard
15

16. Mind
Mapping
as
a
Tool
rules
Sub
topic
user
name
save
first
4me
Sub
topic
rules
password
Sub
topic
encryp4on
MAIN
new
account
TOPIC
Sub
topic
change
Sub
topic
16

17. Round
3:
Brainstorm
with
drawing
For
your
third-­‐highest-­‐priority
goal:
• Gather
around
a
big
sheet
of
paper
• Start
discussing
ideas
for
working
towards
the
goal.
Draw
as
you
talk.
You
can
draw
a
mind
map,
flow
diagram,
pictures,
whatever
helps
you
think.
17

18. Round
3:
Outcomes
Did
drawing
help?
Experiments
Stories
18

19. Round
4:
If
you
had
superpowers…
For
your
fourth-­‐highest-­‐priority
goal:
What
if
you
had
superpowers?
What
superpowers
would
help
you
work
towards
the
goal?
For
example:
my
goal
is
to
reduce
the
average
0me
I
spend
on
each
customer
support
0cket
by
20%
within
the
next
two
months.
Mind-­‐reading
ability
would
help
me
achieve
that
because
I’d
know
what
they’re
really
doing/asking.
19

20. Round
4:
Outcomes
What’s
the
most
useful
super-­‐power?
Experiments
Stories
20

21. More
Resources
The
following
slides
may
be
helpful
for
topics
we
discuss,
or
for
future
reference.
We’ll
write
down
resources,
and
there’s
a
separate
list
of
useful
links
21

22. Agile
Tes0ng
Quadrants
22

23. ATDD
(Acceptance
Test
Driven
Development)
Explore
examples
User
Story
Accept
Story
High
level
AT
Fix
defects
Explore
Expand
Tests
Exploratory
Tes0ng
Code
&
Execute
tests
Auto-­‐
mate
tests
23

24. Choosing
Tools
§
§
§
§
§
Team
effort
Time
Requirements
Focus
on
goals,
problems,
not
tools.
Experiment
24

25. • Enables
testers
/
business
to
define
tests
• test
code
can
be
in
programming
language
• Programmers
can
run
tests
as
they
code
• Testers
can
ask
programmers
for
help
• Takes
0me
from
‘coding’
produc0on
code
• Tests
are
usually
through
the
UI
• Programmers
aren’t
usually
willing
to
help
• Tests
are
implemented
ager
the
code
is
wriYen
• Testers
create
and
implement
all
tests
25

26. Understand
the
Purpose
§
§
§
§
Who’s
using
the
tests?
What
for?
What’s
being
automated?
Exis0ng
tools,
environment
Who’s
doing
what
for
automa0ng?
26

27. What
Fits
Your
Situa0on
• Exis0ng
skills
• Language
of
applica0on
under
test
• Collabora0on
needs
• What’s
being
automated
• Life
span,
future
use
of
tests
27

28. √

29. Pairing
for
Tes4ng
TesterDesigner
TesterMarketer
TesterSupport
Tester-Tester
Tester-Coder
Analyst, DBA,
Sys Admin,
Customer…
29

30. The
key
is
“sustainable
pace”
Technical
debt
slows
us
down
30

31. Story
Mapping
Ch i l d
Stor
ies
Ac0vi0es
by
0m
e
From
Janet
Gregory
&
Ma?
Barcomb
Jeff
PaYon:
hYp://
www.agileproductdesign.com/
blog/the_new_backlog.html

32. Story
Mapping
From
Janet
Gregory
&
Ma?
Barcomb

33. Expert
/
Discipli
ne
skills
Mul0-­‐
d
iscipline
skills

34. T-­‐shaped
Skill-­‐set
See
links
for
more
by
Rob
Lambert
and
Adam
P.
Knight
Depth of Skills
Breadth of Skills

35. Test
Automa0on
Volcano
From
MaY
Barcomb

36. Source:
Gojko
Adzic,
StarEast
2011
keynote

37. Source:
Gojko
Adzic,
StarEast
2011
keynote

38. Learn
to
write
maintainable
tests
§
Get
over
the
“hump
of
pain”
From
Gerard
Meszaros’
XUnit
Test
Pa?erns
38

39. Tests
as
Living
Documenta0on
§ Understandable
§ Who
will
really
use
them?
§ Once
passing,
must
always
pass
39

40. Supportive Culture
40

41. The right infrastructure
41

42. The right people
42