Balancing Exploratory and Automated Testing in Agile NEW
Transitioning to agile development isn't any easier for the test team than it is for the development team. New features and fixes appear daily, priorities change fluidly as customer feedback shapes the backlog, and design documents are frequently sparse as developers use iterations to zero in on design solutions. On top of all this, with agile testing there is rarely time to build the giant spreadsheets of test cases that management loves to use for tracking testing progress. So, how do we handle the constant flood of change, balance exploratory testing and automated testing—and communicate progress to senior management? Matt Attaway shares his experiences developing a successful lightweight agile testing process that helped his team move from testing two waterfall projects at once to six agile projects simultaneously. Matt discusses lightweight test plan development, the use of BDD tools such as Cucumber, and methods for measuring testing progress.