Notes from Pauls Session

Contract always a problem, either shackles you or too woolly Test management of agile project – no one felt it was comfortable place, but is it ever? Try to be agile but contracts written to pre-agile methods Test managers should input to contracts Have developers and users who have less test experience being responsible for testing

Agile Problems Rapid devt environment, team unwilling to take responsibility for deliverables Agile team that don’t actually do agile How does agile fit with delivering a solution Lost the end to end view Hybrid mix, agile at front end and more formal for integration Can’t throw basic disciplines Acceptance test system is unstable, so can be meaningless Disconnect between test environment and live Only works perfectly for those involved Can’t do performance testing Unlikely to be able to fully test – particularly non-functional Adopting agile before they are really ready, not trained Disrupts other processes Traditional tools support doesn’t work in agile, eg test director It depends on people talking and sitting next to each other Can agile work in credit crunch Interpretation of “story” is radically different by different people Contracting against evolving understanding

Control points for Test Managers Verification of staffing of teams, skills mix right, are they trained, what experience do they have. Communications mechanisms - teaming Test approach for mixed methods – shows end to end responsibility for both agile and waterfall Verify all tests prior to development have been created Environments for integration and acceptance testing Scope of testing within each iteration How agile principles are being applied e.g. what will testing be undertaken and evidenced Should we produce a template for agile contract?