Agile testing for distributed teams and large orgs
- 1. Janet Gregory, DragonFire Inc. Copyright 2014 SQDG – Calgary October 2014 With input from Lisa Crispin 1
- 2. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. Agile Testing - 2009 More Agile Testing Oct. 2014 www.agiletester.ca www.janetgregory.ca @janetgregoryca janet@agiletester.ca
- 3. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. Let’s learn a bit about your experiences -Different cities, same time zone (or 1 hr. apart) -Time zones more than 7 hrs difference -More than 3 remote teams -Less than 100 people -Larger than 1,000 employees -Larger than 5,000 -Others? 3
- 4. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. 4
- 5. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. What are some issues implementing agile large organizations or distributed teams?
- 6. •Cost savings •Mergers & acquisitions •Remote availability •Lack of expertise in-house 6
- 7. 7 •Able to hire the ‘right’ people ◦Independent of where they live •Leverage time zones to your advantage •More diversity
- 8. •Extra communication efforts •Time zone differences •Dependencies •Less productive 8
- 9. •Organizational controls •Working with third parties •Involving customers •Managing dependencies •ERP system integration 9
- 10. Distributed teams and large organizations mean cultural issues. Many teams just don’t take it into consideration. 10
- 11. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. Norms & values Language Infrastructure challenges History, habits Interactions 11
- 12. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. It’s relatively simple for a co-located team to adapt to agile, make the values’ their own, and follow the principles. 12
- 13. •Lack of trust •Lack of face time •Splitting work between teams •Collaboration / Communication 13
- 14. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. 14
- 15. Let’s talk about tools & practices for communication & collaboration 15
- 16. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Collaboration means ... ◦Working together to find solutions, etc. •Communication means ... sharing ◦Ideas, information, decisions, solutions, etc. ◦Understand the media ◦Know the audience 16
- 17. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Set up communication channels so all team members have access to ◦decisions made ◦planning sessions ◦meeting notes •Lowest common denominator for communication 17
- 18. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Email ◦Broadcast, individual, follow-up on conversations •Photos – task boards, smart boards •Videos Remember ..... •Emails do not show emotions and can be misinterpreted 18
- 19. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Telephone •Chat rooms •Wiki •Collaborative automation tools •Mind-mapping tools •Remote pairing: VPN, Skype, instant messaging, desktop sharing 19
- 20. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Use video whenever possible ◦Skype, Google phone, teleconferencing •Put faces on stories and tasks ◦Physical task boards ◦On-line systems ◦Use avatars •Virtual tele-presence 20
- 21. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. 21
- 22. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. 22
- 23. •Tests provide feedback •Tests show desired behaviour •Developers think about testability •Testers think about the big picture •Multiple skill sets mean better solution 23
- 24. •Keep the feedback cycle short •Remove dependencies early 24 Note: Feature teams are preferable with all team members co-located
- 25. 25 Picture by Augusta Evangelisti, based on diagram from Elisabeth Hendrickson
- 26. 26 Think in Levels of Detail
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- 29. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc.
- 30. •Power of 3 •Pairing •Question •Draw pictures •Repeat verbal conversations in writing 30
- 31. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Continuous integration •Integrate testing and coding •Use common tools ◦Version control ◦Test frameworks ◦Defect tracking 31 Consider operations / maintenance teams for support of tests, code
- 32. •Share information •Share awareness of dependencies •Keep everyone “in the loop” •Same vision •Same goal 32
- 33. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. 33
- 34. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Common orientation •Off –shore teams •Acquired teams •New remote team members •Foster a learning culture ◦Tolerate mistakes ◦Personal safety •Give time to experiment, to try 34
- 35. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Command and control •Think – how to give confidence? •Provide transparency •Provide the right support ◦For self-organizing teams ◦Extra positions for liaison 35
- 36. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Schedules ◦Overlapping times ◦Meetings ◦Share the pain •Use retrospectives ◦Identify problem areas ◦Experiment with solutions 36
- 37. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Think constantly of other teams or team members •Extend help to others •Between management and development 37
- 38. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. 38
- 39. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Whole team •Small chunks of work •Use your diverse skills •Respect culture: yours and others •Give teams time to experiment, learn •Maintain discipline •Avoid silos – geographical or functional 39
- 40. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. Collaborate to innovate or Innovate to collaborate Use retrospectives to improve!! 40
- 41. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams More Agile Testing: Learning Journeys for the Whole Team By Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin www.agiletester.ca Contact info www.janetgregory.ca Email: janet@agiletester.ca Twitter: janetgregoryca 41
- 42. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development: Large, Multisite and Offshore Product Development with Large-Scale Scrum, Craig Larman and Bas Vodde, Addison-Wesley, 2010 •Agile Software Development in the Large: Diving into the Deep, Jutta Eckstein, Dorset House, 2004 •Fearless Change: Patterns for introducing new ideas, Linda Rising and Mary Lynn Manns •Agile-testing@yahoogroups.com •Pictures taken on safari in Kenya and Tanzania with Nature Encounters Tours, 42
- 43. Copyright 2014 DragonFire Inc. •www.lisacrispin.com •Rothman Consulting Group, Inc. Vol 9, #5: Building Trust in any Team •http://leadingsoftwaretestinginanagileworld.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/distributed-agile-test-teams-making-it.html 43