Agile Testing activities can be effectively managed using Kanban concepts. This ensures that testing is completed within the specified time limit of a sprint or iteration, thus enabling the delivery of a quality product. The following points highlight the ways in which Kanban concepts help to ensure successful Agile Testing: 1. User Stories should be testable and appropriately sized in order to be completed within the sprint or iteration. 2. The WIP (Work-In-Progress) limit should be set, so that only a limited number of user stories are worked on at any given time. 3. A Kanban board should be used to represent the workflow visually and help to track the testing activities and identify any bottlenecks that may occur. 4. The Kanban team collaboration concept should be employed to quickly resolve any bottlenecks that are identified. 5. Test Cases should be prepared in advance, the test suite should be kept up-to-date as development progresses, and customer feedback should be obtained in order to reduce the amount of defects within the sprint or iteration. 6. The Definition of Done (DoD) should be applied, ensuring that a Story is only considered complete once the testing is complete.
Testing Activities in Product Development
In Product development, releases can be tracked with a feature Kanban board, which visually tracks the feature development status. Agile Testing activities are implemented to ensure quality release and to track progress. The following points highlight the importance of Agile Testing activities: • Testers participate in User Story Creation to ensure all possible behaviours of the system are captured by means of User Stories and the Non-functional Requirements that are part of the User Stories. • Visual Task Kanban Board depicts the status and progress of the Tasks, identifies bottlenecks, and measures cycle time. • Team Collaboration helps with accountability of the entire Team for Quality product, resolution of bottlenecks, and contribution of every expertise in all the activities. • Continuous Integration focuses on Continuous Integration Testing, Automation of Tests, and Defect Prevention with Test Cases written earlier to Development. • WIP Limit focuses on a limited number of User Stories at a Time, and Continuous Testing ensures Defect Fixes within the Iteration. • Ensure Test Coverage and keep the Open Defects Count Low.
Story Exploration
Story Exploration is a process used by Agile teams to ensure a clear understanding of the stories being accepted for development. It involves a collaborative conversation between the Product Owner, Developers and Testers. The Product Owner provides the story which outlines the desired functionality of the system. Developers then explore the story further to ensure that it is ready for acceptance. Testers also provide input from a testing perspective in order to make the story as testable as possible. The finalization of the story is based on the ongoing communication between all members of the team. In Points: – Story Exploration is a process used by Agile teams to ensure a clear understanding of stories being accepted for development – Involves a collaborative conversation between the Product Owner, Developers, and Testers – Product Owner provides the story outlining the desired functionality of the system – Developers explore the story further to ensure it is ready for acceptance – Testers provide input from a testing perspective to make the story as testable as possible – Finalization of the story is based on the ongoing communication between all members of the team
Estimation
In Release and Iteration Planning, testers are responsible for providing information on the necessary testing activities, and estimating the effort required to complete them. For each Iteration Planning, the testers contribute to deciding which and how many stories can be included, based on their Test Effort and Test Schedule Estimation. This estimation of stories will also include an estimation of the testing required. In Kanban, a story is marked as complete only when it has been developed, tested and is free of defects. Therefore, Test Estimation is a critical factor to consider when estimating the stories and ensuring they are properly done.
Story Planning
Story Planning begins once a Story has been estimated and assigned to the current Iteration. The tasks associated with Story Planning include:
Preparing Test Data
Extending Acceptance Tests
Executing Manual Tests
Conducting Exploratory Testing sessions
Automating Continuous Integration Tests
Other tasks that may also be required include:
Performance Testing
Regression Testing
Updating related Continuous Integration Tests
Story Progression
-Uncovers additional tests required due to communication between developers and testers. -Exploratory testing can be performed by testers to gain more clarity on implementation. -Continuous Testing is part of Story Progression, which includes Continuous Integration Testing. -The entire team participates in the testing activities.
Story Acceptance
-Story Acceptance occurs when the story reaches Done-Done state. -Story is considered complete when all relevant tests pass or the desired level of test automation is met.