The Test Expert’s Role in DevOps – Idexcel Testing Roundup

1. The Test Expert’s Role in DevOps

Is wasn’t long ago that those of us who dedicated our professional careers to helping our organizations deliver better software were asking how we fit into this new world of agile development. While individual companies and the software engineering community continue to adapt and decide whether agile is right for their businesses, there’s already another important advancement in our world: DevOps. Some see this as simply the next evolution of agile.

DevOps is a culture shift that emphasizes collaboration between software developers and other IT professionals while automating software delivery and infrastructure changes. It aims to establish an environment where building, testing, and releasing software can happen more rapidly, frequently, and reliably. Continue reading…

2. How Can Testers Embrace Learning and Keep the Spark Alive?

What you do today can improve all your tomorrows – Ralph Marston

IT field changes; way too fast than some of us would like.

If you are not constantly updating your skills, you could get irrelevant, obsolete and outdated. In a world of lay-off paranoia, it is a good idea to rise above it all, gain immunity and feel secure. The best way to do so is to make learning a habit. Continue reading…

3. Why No One Talks About Agile Testing!

The Agile Zone is brought to you in partnership with DZone Software. Build your own privately managed community, like Stack Overflow, for your team with AnswerHub, a DZone Software product.
When working on digital projects and products, you probably encounter the term “agile” a lot.

The word agile is widely used (and sometimes misused). It refers to the methodology of project management which strives to establish certain principles of collaboration, flexibility and transparency. It emphasizes the importance of feedback throughout the entire development workflow. Continue reading…

4. 7 Practical Software Testing Tips from TestBash Presenters

We gathered some practical software testing tips for you from presenters of TestBash Brighton, the most awesome software testing conference out there! Continue reading…

5. Discussion: How to set up a Software testing process

I have been assigned a task to create a Testing process in the company. Our company uses Agile methodology. The task is to create a generic plan which determines the role of a QA/Tester in the complete agile STLC. Scrum is what we are trying to implement.

We can assume the team of 4 developers and 1 QA. Also please suggest if a separate developer for QA-Automation is required or the same QA with limited knowledge should be hired. Currently we don’t have any automation framework. Everything is being done from scratch.

Your answers are valuable. Contribute to the discussion here!

Big data, marketing and decision-making – what is it all about?

Last week I got asked if I know about big data and how you use it in digital marketing. Yes, of course, I do. I’ve been using big data for years when analysing numbers from websites and social media.

I’ve also been fortunate to speak at many conferences where some of the speakers are fully trained ‘big data ninjas’, and I’m lucky to know some of them personally.

Big data is complex information, and it feels as overwhelming as a huge waterfall. It’s only if you present big data in a meaningful way it helps you to make better decisions. Continue reading

STAREAST Software Testing Conference – May 1-6, 2016 – Orlando, FL USA

Date : May 1–6, 2016

Location : Orlando, FL

Venue : Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld®

The Premier Event for Software Testing and QA Professionals

STAREAST is one of the longest-running, and most respected conferences on software testing and quality assurance. The event week features over 100 learning and networking opportunities and covers a wide variety of some of the most in-demand topics.

• Test Management
• Test Techniques
• Test Automation
• Agile Testing
• DevOps & Testing
• Testing the Internet of Things
• Mobile Testing
• Testing Metrics
• Cloud Testing
• Performance Testing

[Know more about the Conference]

Measuring Agile Success

Agile methodology is an iterative approach typically used in software development as an alternative to the traditional project management. The approach emphasises on building the software incrementally from the beginning instead of delivering everything at the end, and solutions and requirements evolve sequentially. Product is broken down into incremental builds which are provided in iterations. Each iteration lasts typically almost one to three weeks, and requires cross functional teams to work together in different areas such as requirement analysis, planning, coding and testing. After each iteration, a working software build is delivered and working product is shown to all the important stakeholders, including customers. The builds are incremental and the final build consists of all the required features.

In agile model, each project is handled differently, and methods are tailored so that they best suit the requirements of the project. Some of the most popular agile methods include

• Scrum
• Rational Unified Process
• Extreme Programming
• Crystal Clear
• Feature Driven Development
• Adaptive Software Development
• Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)

Pros of Agile

In agile methodology, a common assumption is that the needs and requirements of the end users are dynamic, and hence, based on the continuous feedback, changes are discussed and features are added, removed or modified accordingly. There is frequent delivery of software, and a lot of emphasis is placed on the face-to-face interactions across teams. There is daily coordination between the developers and business personnel to achieve good design and technical excellence. This makes it much faster to adapt easily and regularly to the changing circumstances, even if these changes are much later in the software lifecycle. As the frequency of new increments is high, the changes can be implemented with minimal cost and time.
Compared with the traditional waterfall approach, stakeholders and developers in agile get more options and time, reducing the risk of reaching a sudden standstill. This also ensures that the end product matches with the customer requirements in a best possible way.
Agile is a very realistic approach which is suitable for the dynamic requirements, promotes cross-training and teamwork, easy to manage, requires little planning and provides flexibility to the developers.

Cons

This model is not suitable for handling complex dependencies. As there is minimum document generation, there is high individual dependency. Lack of documentation also makes the transfer of technology quite challenging. There is also additional risk of sustainability, extensibility and maintainability.

For larger projects, it may be difficult to assess the requirements at the beginning of the SDLC (software development life cycle). Additionally, agile relies heavily on customer interaction and if they are not sure about their exact requirements, the entire team can head in a wrong direction and project can get completely off track. It can also be challenging for the new employees and programmers to take the required decision during the development process.

Measuring agile success

In agile methodology, it is essential to track business metrics, as well as agile metrics. Business metrics help analyse if the solution is meeting the requirements, and agile metrics help in the analysis of the development process. Sound agile metrics help reduce confusion, and can motive team’s progress through the development cycle.

State of Agile Survey provides reports that give the software professionals a deep insight into latest agile trends, lessons learned and best practices. This helps organisations plan for successful agile transformations. In this Survey, 58% of the participating respondents confirmed that they used on-time delivery as a measure of the success of their agile initiative. The measure of on-time is based on the delivery expectations, and the measure of delivery can be assessed from burndown or burnup.

Product quality is another metric to measure agile initiative. There are multiple ways to measure quality, including revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and different technical aspects .The focus is on the speed and built-in quality of the working software. Testing and inspection are integral part of the complete development lifecycle, and there is constant monitoring of build and code health along with the testing trends.

Another metric for measuring agile success is the user or customer satisfaction. The outcome can be measured in terms of sales figures, net promoter score, usage statistics etc. Agile success can also be measured in terms of business value. If there is a contract for work completion, measuring business value becomes quite explicit. However, if market inputs drive the decisions, measuring business value become speculative or prospective.

Some companies also measure their agile success in terms of project visibility. To have transparency requires that the progress at multiple dimensions should be made visible to all the stakeholders. Metrics showing the targeted plan with the overall progress help stakeholders get a better insight.
Velocity trend is the metric used to assess predictability, and it shows the average pace of the work. Wildly fluctuating velocity reflects changing teams, or unpredictable work.

It is evident that a single metric cannot be used to assess the agile success. Each organisation is different, and every software development project is different. Teams need to figure out the best ways to pilot, extend and finally excel at Agile. This methodology requires full participation from all those involved as it is not a quick fix or a fleeting fad.