Creating a high performing QA function… SimplesBy Carl Bruiners

Presumptions

• Continuous Integration (CI) environmental at an embryotic stage

• No Continuous Delivery (CD) model

• No or limited reporting around QA

• Certain aspects around Development / Agile has been omitted to keep the focus on QA

Note: This should form part of the teams definition of done

Team QA Vision

What is high performing QA• Testing an integral part of the team

• Automated testing

• Continuous integration / delivery

• Reducing escaping defects

• Eliminating debt

• Reduce uncertainty

• Compliance – Accessibility, W3C, etc…

• Coding standards, practices and patterns

• Improving code base through refactoring

• Features / functions delivered are aligned to commercial requirements

• Hi-visibility of failing tests – i.e. CI / defect information radiators

• Team take shared responsibility for failed tests

• Guaranteed environment up time – Managed through SLA’s

Commercial Benefits

Customer

• Increased frequency of new feature deliveries

• Improved customer experience by reducing likelihood of encountering a defect

• Improved ability to test granular level functions without impacting on the product (in combination with A/B or multi-variant testing).

• Improved flexibility to react to competitors

Product

• Reduced time spent on fixing defects = More time spent working on product features

• Teams work on small incremental feature / function deliveries so that new features ready for production are not held back by other unfinished features

• Base product improvement will help extensibility and scalability

• Feature areas are modular, encapsulated independent features which lessens any escaping defects impacting on other features / areas of the product

• A/B / Multi-variant testing feedback helps commercial make customer driven decisions

Financials

• Average daily cost of £58 p/p

• Average effort time per defect 2 days

• Average weekly incoming defect rate 10

Weekly Monthly Annual Target Cost in days

Base £1,160 £4,640 £55,680 n/a 960

1st Year £696 £2,784 £33,408 40% 576

2nd Year £11.60 £46.40 £556.80 99% 9.5

Agile Development

Agile Application Lifecycle Management

Agile Delivery Process

• QA integrated within the team

• Refactoring as the team goes along

• Test Driven Development (TDD)

• Pair Programming – to reduce SPOF’s

• GUI / Functional automated testing

• Set a sensible BAU percentage – 20%-30%

• Development practices / patterns – i.e. OO, MVC, patterns, etc..

• Defects reviewed on a daily basis by the PO and team

• Testers validate defects – ensure reproducible steps

• Defining a commercial focused MMFS (Minimal Marketable Feature Set)

• Quality gates in swim lane – Peer review and ready for acceptance (on stage)

Development

Defects

•Testers review incoming defects

•Ensuring defects have enough information supplied

•Identifying priority / severity of defect/s based on commercial value

•Frequently review defects

•Minimise escalations

•PM / PO's to be inclusive of prioritisation of defects

Testing

•Define smoke testing areas on the product

•Adopt Test Driven Development (TDD)

•Introducing Quality Control Gates (QC) into Sprints

Managing Risk

Continuous Integration

Automated testing

•Automated unit testing

•Automated smoke testing

Environment

•Integration server

•SCM – All project deliverables stored under source control i.e. images, SQL scripts, documentation, etc…

•Builds should happen as frequently as possible

•Continuous visible feedback on testing

•Configuration management

Continuous Delivery – Post CI buildAutomated testing

•GUI testing

•Functional testing

•Security testing

•Performance testing

•Regression testing

•Smoke testing

Automated deployment

•Stage

•Production

Continuous delivery workflow

Dev test suite Test suite

Build Performance

Unit test Security

Code scan (U)AT

Compliancy

Regression

GUI

Functional

The Plan

Deliverable goals – Year 1

• Reduce escaping defects through implementing QC gates

• Reduce incoming defects

• Implement / improve CI environment

• Implement CD (inc. fully automated testing)

• Ensure features / functions delivered are aligned to commercial drivers

• Introduce Quality Controls into Agile process

• Work with teams to ensure correct defects are targeted

• Work with teams on correct best practice development practices

• Measure success rates of defects and improve when needed

• Promote X-team development through sharing each others journeys

• Measure escaping defects

Short Term (Q1 / Q2 2012)

*Note: Subject to change

Medium Term (Q3 / Q4 2012)

Long Term 2013+

My role• Reshape teams to be more test driven / orientated – Testers embedded in the teams• Ensure features being delivered on are returning health ROI• Ensuring commercial alignment;

• Create Scrum of Scrums not only amongst the teams – I attend• Daily Scrum of Scrums between myself and other Senior Management – Prioritised defect list shared

• Protect the teams from external influences• Reviewing defect backlogs to ensure that defects being worked on are aligned to commercial alignment• Stopping enhancements by reviewing the defect backlogs• Spot review stories to ensure stories are using I.N.V.E.S.T• Measure escaping defects• Mitigation of SPOFs• Ensuring Operations / IT have environments up against a ILSA• Bring in ISLA’s• Manage ISLA’s• Define, manage and negotiate rollback plans• Define, manage and negotiate dependency reductions – self sufficient teams / department• Managing other senior managers expectations – transparency / honesty• Protect teams from external factors that are out of scope• Manage scope creep• Resource management – Alignment of staff to peek periods or demands required to meet commercial

goals.• Building strongest equal teams• Carry out an annual Agile assessment (incorporates QA)• Organising the introduction of hi-visibility information radiators• Reduce aged defects over x days old • CI our QA strategy• Reduce cost of QA through improved process and productivity improvements

Questions

Handouts

Fig. 1 – Cone of uncertainty

Fig. 2 – Agile test curve

Fig. 3 – CI dashboard

Fig. 4 – Prototyping

Fig. 5 – Scrum Ceremonies