Testing Traps to Avoid on Agile Teams

Why do many agile teams fail at testing? Iterations turn into mini-waterfalls with testing at the end; stories never become “done” and carry into the next iteration with unresolved bugs; testers worry they’re losing control or being set up to fail; customers keep changing their minds after all the tests have passed. However, some teams do succeed with testing on agile projects. What do they do differently? Janet Gregory shares the lessons she’s learned that help teams-and especially testers-get agile right. With examples from her real-world experiences, Janet describes the testing traps and the practice or process to help fix each one. One example is “forgetting the big picture”-so easy when you are testing small, granular stories. A practice to put in place that avoids this trap is implementing feature acceptance tests to supplement story acceptance tests. Janet outlines the basic steps you can take that can make the difference between success and failure.