Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams

Figure 4-1 Traditional functional teams structure vs. agile team structure

Because projects vary in size, project teams might vary in structure. Organizations with large projects or many projects that happen simultaneously are having success using a matrix-type structure. People from different functional areas combine to form a virtual team while still reporting back to their individual organizational structures. In a large organization, a pool of testers might move from project to project. Some specialists, such as security or performance testers, might be shared among several teams. If you’re starting up a project, identify all of the resources the project will need. Determine the number of testers required and the skill set needed before you start. The testers start with the team and keep working until the project is complete, and at that time they go on to the next project.

While testers are part of the team, their day-to-day work is managed the same as the rest of the project team’s work. A tester can bounce new ideas off of the larger tester community, which includes testers on different project teams across a large organization. All testers can share knowledge and ideas. In organizations that practice performance reviews, the QA manager (if there is one) might drive the reviews and get input from the project team.

As with any new team, it takes a while for a team to jell. If the length of the project is short and the teams are constantly changing, the organization needs to be aware that the first iteration or two of every project will include the new team members getting used to working with each other. Refactor your organization as needed, and remember to include your customers. The best teams are those that have learned to work together and have developed trust with one another.

Physical Logistics

Many organizations that are thinking of adopting agile try to create project teams without co-locating the team in an open-plan environment. To support agile values and principles, teams work better when they have ready access to all team members, easy visibility of all project progress charts, and an environment that fosters communication.

Testers and customers sitting close to the programmers enable the necessary communalization. If logistics prohibit co-location, teams can be inventive.

Janet’s Story

I worked in a team where space prevented all team members from sitting together. The programmers had an area where they could pair-program with ease, but the testers and the customer were seated in another area. At first, it was the testers that made the trip to the storyboard area where the programmers sat to participate in stand-ups and whenever they had a question for one of the programmers. Few of the programmers made the trip (about 50 feet) to the testers’ area. I started keeping a candy dish handy with treats and encouraged the developers to take some as often as they wanted. But there was one rule—they needed to ask a question of one of the testers if they came for candy. Over time, the walk got shorter for all team members. No one side was doing all of the walking, and communication flourished.

—Janet

Team size offers different types of challenges to the organization. Small teams mean small areas, so it is usually easier to co-locate members. Large teams might be spread globally, and virtual communication tools are needed. Co-locating large teams usually means renovating existing space, which some organizations are reluctant to do. Understand your constraints, and try to find solutions to the problems your team encounters rather than just accepting things as “the way it is.”

Janet’s Story

One team I worked on started in one corner of the floor, but expanded over the course of three years, gradually taking over 70% of the floor. Walls were taken down, offices removed, and large open areas created. The open areas and pods of teams worked well, but all the open space meant wall space was lost. Windows became story boards and whiteboards, and rolling whiteboards were ordered that could be used as teams needed them.

—Janet

Co-located teams don’t always live in a perfect world, and distributed teams have a another set of challenges. Distributed teams need technology to help them communicate and collaborate. Teleconferencing, video conferencing, webcams, and instant messaging are some tools that can promote real-time collaboration for teams in multiple locations.

Whether teams are co-located or distributed, the same questions usually come up about what resources are needed on an agile team and how to obtain them. We’ll discuss these in the next section.

Resources