Infosys

Agile Methodology
Manual Testing Approach
March, 2012.

INFOSYS LIMITED
Chennai

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

Target readers
All the Manual Testers moving towards exploring Agile methodology and Scrum.

Keywords
Agile methodology, Scrum.

Introduction
This PowerPoint gives a detailed view on testing approach in Agile – principles, framework and
standards followed by manual testers for developing quality software using Scrum methodology.

Agenda
Agile Terminologies
Agile Scrum Process – How it Works?
Different Roles in Agile – Where does the Tester fit in these different roles
Testing Phases in Agile
How to write a test plan in Agile
How to estimate for Agile
Defect Management in Agile
How to provide status report for Agile Testing

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

Agile Terminologies

User Story: A user story is simply something a user wants. Is breakdown of user requirement
into smaller units

Epic: “Epic” is just a label we apply to a large story. Story that might go for more than one sprint

Theme: Theme is a collection of stories

Product Owner : Represents the business interests. Client or business analyst.

Scrum: Scrum is a process skeleton that contains set of practices and predefined roles.

Scrum Master : Facilitates and protects the scrum. Project manager or Onsite peer.

Sprint: Sprint is the basic unit of development in Scrum. Sprints tend to last between one week
and one month. Equivalent to Iterations.

Product Backlog: Amount of product or software pending after certain number of sprints

Sprint Backlog : Amount of product or software pending from the previous sprint.

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach - Scrum Process – How it Works?

Burn
Burn Down
Down
Customer Needs

Scrum Master

Daily
Scrum
(stand-up) Facilitates
Product Owner
meetings,
Team
educates
Business stakeholders
representation

Sprint
in a team
Empowered
and
(Iteration)
2 week sweet spot
competent

Product Backlog Definition of

Done
The
“What”

Sprint Planning A Shippable

Sprint
Backlog Release
Sprint Planning B
Prioritized
and
estimated
The “How”
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Different Roles in Agile – Where does the Tester fit in these different roles

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

Testing Phases in Agile

Different testing phase in Agile -

 Exploratory testing – Exploring the new application developed with unit test scripts. Test Cases
development based on the behavior of the application.
 System testing – Testing the data flow across the systems interacting with the application.
 Regression testing – Testing the functionality of the application after integrating it with new
code base.
 User Acceptance testing – Testing the application to determine that it conforms with the user
requirements.

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Testing Phases in Agile

Sprint Planning:
 Inputs - Product backlog and sprint backlog
 Actions -
 User stories identified and prioritized
 Sprint goals (Acceptance criteria) is identified for the user story
 Detailed tasks identified
 Revise release schedule
 Update the sprint backlog and product backlog
 Output –
 Stories/acceptance criteria
 Tasks
 Updated product and sprint backlog

Sprint Execution:
 Inputs –
 Accepted user stories
 Sprint goals and tasks
 Schedule and resource plan
 Actions -
 Define weekly goals based on sprint goals
 Conduct daily scrum meetings to define the goals for each day
 Development and testing activities and reviewing of deliverables
 Test progress reporting and defects reporting
 Tracking and monitoring the status using burn down charts

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Testing Phases in Agile

 Output –
 Project deliverables
 Burn down chart
 Team velocity/No. of story points delivered

Sprint Review and Retrospection:

 Inputs – Acceptance criteria, test results and defect status.
 Actions -
 The sprint goals that were identified were reviewed by the team
 Update the sprint backlog
 Update the release plan
 Discuss on Key learning’s
 Identify process improvements
 Output –
 Updated product and sprint backlog
 Update Release Plan.

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

How to write a test plan in Agile

A tester in agile development becomes a test analyst.

To write a test plan in agile is as simple as identifying the entities/artifacts needed for the
upcoming sprints.

At the start of each sprint, the tester needs to identify all the available user stories written by
the product owner or the scrum master.

Based on the complexity of each requirement, the number of resources needed should be
defined.

The timelines has to be fixed for each sprint; at the same time every member should be
informed about the flexibility that is needed in case of critical issues or requirements.

He/she need to have a detailed idea of the product backlog or sprint backlog that currently
exists.

The test plan should contain specific timelines for reviews, inspections, and walkthroughs and if
possible test sprint meetings.

The test plan should contain specific timelines for test scenario preparation, test scenario
evaluation, test case preparation (if needed), actual testing and review of the results.

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How to write a test plan in Agile

In agile methodology we basically have two test plans – Master test plan and Sprint test plan.

Master Test Plan:

There can be only one master test plan for the project and we need to update the plan with the
schedules, features to be tested/not tested and the test strategy.
The master test plan will include the objectives of testing, scope of testing – different from the
testing scope for individual sprint test plan, test strategy, hardware requirements, environment
requirements, number of sprints and scheduling for each of these sprints, features to be tested,
features not to be tested, resources/roles and responsibilities, schedule for integration,
dependencies, risks/assumptions, tools and approvals.

Sprint Test Plan:

Sprint test plan is written for each sprint to estimate the number of resources needed for
completing the sprint, to define the timelines for the current sprint and also to define the types of
testing/test strategy that is needed for the current sprint based on the complexity of story and
sprint backlog.
In agile projects we have one sprint test plan designed for each sprint. At the end of each sprint
this test plan is updated with the amount of code tested, amount of the code that is pending
(sprint backlog) and the number of resources needed to complete the work.

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

QC in Agile Methodology

 QC has an option to parameterize the input field values both in Manual Testing and Business
Process Testing. This can be exploited for our cause.
Example:
Login form with fields
a. User Id
b. Password
c. Submit button
d. Reset button
e. Forgot Password ? (Link/ Button)
 For the above example, the current trend is to parameterize the values for User Id and
Password only. Suppose, we have a mixed opinion on having the field “Forgot Password” as a
link or a button, we can parameterize the fields as well to suite the business requirement.
 The requirement change at a later sprint for the above scenario will also be dealt automatically
without any rework effort.
I.e. Field “Forgot Password” which was a link in the initial few sprints later modified to be a
button can also be handled with ease.

How to estimate for Agile

 Resourcing planning for Agile technology should be based on user stories and the complexity of
each story.
 While estimating this we need to consider the length of the sprint and epic.
 Product backlog, Sprint backlog should be taken into account after each sprint.
 Daily stand up, sprint burn down charts reduce the effect of over or under estimation.
 Estimation is based on team velocity for a sprint, this reduces underestimation.

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How to estimate for Agile

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Number of Stories Remaining Ideal Burn down

Completed Stories To Be Tested Stories

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Agile Methodology Manual Testing Approach

How to estimate for Agile

Example :
Requirement of the project is split into 400 stories
Total stories : 400
Total weeks considered for the project : 20 weeks
One sprint will run for 2 weeks
Total number of sprints : 10
Number of stories for each sprint : 40

From the previous chart :

Sprint backlog dev: 15 stories
Sprint backlog test : 16 stories
Product backlog : 360 stories ( 20 weeks)
Velocity of the sprint : 15 stories

Do’s and Don’ts:

 Estimate for smaller, rather than larger, items.

 Involve people who are experienced on the subject and the project members.

 Update the estimate as and when the knowledge on the project evolves.

 When in transition from traditional methods to Agile reduce the time lines for a build on a
gradual basis to ensure that project members are comfortable.

 Have as many sprints as required. It is only the effective outcome from a sprint that counts.

 A sprint should ideally be long enough to bring out the required product and should not exceed
time lines at any cost.

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Defect Management in Agile

 Defect management is often much simpler on agile projects when compared to

classical/traditional projects for two reasons.

 First, with a whole team approach to testing when a defect is found it's typically fixed on the
spot, often by the person(s) who injected it in the first place. In this case the entire defect
management process is at most a conversation between a few people.

 Second, when an independent test team is working in parallel with the development team to
validate their work they typically use a defect reporting tool to inform the development team of
what they found.

 Disciplined agile delivery teams combine their requirements management and defect
management strategies to simplify their overall change management process. Both
requirements and defect reports are types of work items and are treated equally -- they're
estimated, prioritized, and put on the work item stack.

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How to provide status report for Agile Testing

One of the greatest challenges in agile project management is status reporting.

Daily Scrum

 The daily scrum meetings are the finest form of status reporting but it only applies to people
with a close interest in the project who can spare the time to attend daily scrums.

 Each day during the sprint, a project status meeting occurs. This is called a daily scrum, or the
daily standup.

 This meeting has specific guidelines:

The meeting starts precisely on time.
All are welcome, but normally only the core roles speak.
The meeting is time boxed to 15 minutes.
The meeting should happen at the same location and same time every day.

 During the meeting, each team member answers three questions:

What have you done since yesterday?
What are you planning to do today?
Any impediments/stumbling blocks?

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How to provide status report for Agile Testing

Burn down Chart

 The simple way to make the status of each sprint visible to the product owners/scrum team is
by maintaining a burn down chart as we discussed in the previous slides.

 This is a simple and a powerful method followed in all the agile projects to track the testing
progress of each sprint and represent it in a graphical manner that makes it easy to
understand.

 A burn down chart is graphical representation of work left to do versus time.

The outstanding work (or backlog) is often on the vertical axis, with time along the horizontal.
That is, it is a run chart of outstanding work. It is useful for predicting when all of the work will
be completed.

Sprint Planning meeting

 At the beginning of the sprint cycle (every 2 weeks once), a “Sprint Planning Meeting” is held.

 The selection of what work needs to be done is decided based on the product backlog, sprint
backlog and current velocity

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Reference(s):

1.http://agilebuddy.com/whitepapers/white-paper-how-agile-methods-resolve-chaos-and-unpredicta
bility-in-software-projects/

2.http://www.versionone.com/Agile101/Agile_Benefits.asp
3.http://www.buzzle.com/articles/waterfall-model-advantages-and-disadvantages.html

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THANK YOU

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