Crossing the Chasm: Agile Transitions for Test Teams

Even if agile development has "crossed the chasm" and is becoming a mainstream set of practices, testers are often left behind when development teams "go agile." Developers learn test-driven development, continuous integration, refactoring, pair programming, and more. Project managers receive ScrumMaster training. What do testers get? Too often, just a wave to follow as the rest of the organization makes the move. Testers need some answers to their questions: If developers are writing tests, what am I supposed to do? How can I possibly keep up with two-week iterations and constantly changing requirements? Janet Gregory describes the skills that are vital for agile testers and discusses how testers can engage with agile development teams. Agile testers must change their mindset from, "How can I break this software?" to "How can I help the team deliver really great software?" Janet explains how this shift in thinking helps you make the transition to agile testing, how test managers can integrate their teams into agile projects, and how agile ultimately improves product quality. Through her insight and experience, Janet helps you build your bridges from traditional to agile testing.