5 ways to implement Agile in your day-to-day

 The days of traditional software testing are very close to an end. And I’m not even talking about automation, software tools or TDD. I’m talking about changing the mindset of QA’s work routine. With few changes in the way you work – with an agile mindset, you can maximize time, work on the right priorities and test what’s important to your business.

       1. Always talk with the developer

We know that communication is an issue for almost all companies. The 2016 Business Communications Survey revealed that 63 percent of professionals have communication problems in their daily work.

However, we need to decrease communication issues at least inside the Scrum Team. Just like a mother and a father work together to raise their child, QAs and Devs need to interact more than ever to ensure the success of the software they are buildingtogether.

Who better than the person that created the software to tell you what’s important?

• Create a list of questions for the developer and sit together to discuss. The sooner you have this conversation the better.

       2. Keep focused on what you are testing.

Sometimes being a QA could be difficult, because you probably are the person who uses the software the most, so you see a lot of new/existing issues during your daily work.

But you need to stay focused on the actual functionality you are testing. I’m not saying to ignore the issues you see, I’m just suggesting to not stop your testing because of that.

• Create a document and make a list of the issues you found. At the end of the day, talk to the developers to make sure the items will be addressed.
• If you are a fan of documentation, you can create a shared document for the whole team, so they can see in real time the issues you are finding.
  

   3. Stop exhaustive writing, start recording

I know that in the past the QAs were recognized by the number of Test Cases they created or number of Bugs they opened. But those days are over!

You can’t waste time writing exhaustive documentation instead of generating value for the business.

–       If you are testing a huge scenario, record a video.

–       If you found a bug, record a gif to show it.

It’s easy to explain and understand, it avoids mistyping and saves time.

       4. Tools, tools and tools

Yes! Good tools can save you time. As I said in the previously tip, recording is the new writing. So always keep up-to-date with new tools that can help you. Shortcuts, macros etc. are fundamental to you.

–       Talk to the developers, PO and SM, probably they have tips.

–       Interesting software to learn more about: automation software, Test Management, performance testing, API software testing, etc.

       5. Be a tech person.

You need to knowwhat, why and how the developers are working. Why the developers of your team decided to use Angular? What are the limitations of the DB?

You don’t need to know the detailed information, but you need to know the important aspects. It can give you good insights of tests you could perform.

QAs need programing skills as well. In a Scrum Team all members are responsible for delivering the software. If the team is out of time your help should be valuable. Be prepared.

In the meantime you can pair programing with the developer. It will show them you are interested and may bring you together.

Being an Agile Professional is more than just running any agile framework inside the company. It means you think in an agile way and use it in your personal life as well. Planning vacation, holidays or just the supermarket list.

You are focused on improving processes, tools and the way the whole organization works. There’s not a too big idea for you and you should think outside the box and keep learning, studying and figuring out new models to apply to your organization. The changes begin with you!

About the author

Bruna is a Test Engineer at PoaTek. In the past she was a backend developer and Scrum Master for 4+ years. Passionate about people, she believes that communication is more than speech, that’s why she likes group dynamics and the way they translate the experiences of each person within a group. Enthusiastic of agile methodologies, she lives in an agile fashion in her daily life. She strongly believes that quality is not related to testing but to process.