Ken Pemberton

The Agile Testing Coaching Cards, a deck of 99 cards: Agile testing mindset, values, principles, and practices. buff.ly/3MGY9xJ Suggestion for using them is included, but agile teams, coaches, Scrum masters, and test consultants, can also use their own coaching technique

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If you don't know, there is this thing called Testing Manifesto, introduced by Karen & Samantha from the book A coach's guide to Agile Testing. This is quite fascinating because it embraces the Quality Engineering mindset shift. At Qaraton, we believe in a better way of practice testing and building quality mindset in teams and organizations. It starts with what we values in our work. Hence, Qaraton 💚 Testing Manifesto. #Qaraton #TestingManifesto #QualityEnginnering

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I thought I'd share some thoughts I've been having on the importance of effective Test Management and the key role it plays in software delivery. Software Test Management: The Bridge Between Delivery and Stakeholders   When an IT platform publicly doesn’t work quite as expected often we hear the catch cry “Was it even tested before it went into production?” and in delivery and testing approaches where we see the likely increase in the use of AI, I feel that the role of the Test Manager is even more critical than it may have been seen before. The Test Manager is there to provide qualitative information regards the quality of the delivery, through the appropriate testing as well as ensuring that the appropriate stakeholder engagement occurs. With the likelihood of more aspects of testing software deliveries being “black box” using automation, LLM and GenAI, having a capable and experienced Test Manager ensuring the right criteria are being tested, within appropriate boundaries and interpreting the results in a way that gives meaning to the stakeholders about the quality of and risks to delivery will be critical. The Test Manager can be the representative of the stakeholders and the delivery of the project in discussions with vendors, environment and change managers. The Test Manger as well as the testers will be critical in reviewing any test material that is generated and output by automated LLM and GenAI testing to ensure it’s fit for purpose, has the appropriate coverage, and actually does what it says it’s doing. The Test Manager being able to tell the “story” of testing to the appropriate stakeholders, what’s going well, where the issues are and what defects, issues and risks are present and any likely impact to the business are key aspects of the Test Manager role that are essential to successful software delivery. It’s also upon the Test Manager to get the input and feedback from the stakeholders on what are the business priorities and risk tolerances, this enables a risk-based approach to testing and can introduce efficiencies into the testing process. Setting up regular sessions between testing and the stakeholders for the sharing of the input and feedback will help build that trusting relationship and give those stakeholders confidence in the approach to testing being taken.  The Test Manager can be across the technical detail of the delivery and key functionality that development are working on, as well as understanding business priorities, risks and requirements, facilitating comms between the two, being the bridge between the delivery and stakeholders.

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Apparently, the holy grail of agile must only be limited to Software Development and every other part of the business should do something else. 🤦 I'm sorry, but this rigid belief system is rather absurd. Any business, regardless of its primary product, is likely heavily reliant on software. The agile approach and ways of working extend well beyond the software development team. In fact, the effectiveness of these software teams is intricately linked to funding models, staffing models, the way portfolios and programs of work are managed, and the overarching company strategy and more. Labeling agile as solely for software is a myopic view that neglects the broader system. The effectiveness of an entire organisation hinges on the symbiotic relationships between its various functions. If even one function is not aligned with the values and principles of agile, it can lead to significant issues between them and agile teams. But let's dig into this. The manifesto has values and principles, right? Principles are cornerstones in making decisions where leaders stand for the principles and make tradeoff decisions on values. Leaders in the business that are outside software that does not buy into those principles will likely make contradictory decisions. Thereby making it hard for software teams to function. Nothing beats trying to do iterative development but being mandated by annual project planning, funding and resourcing. Nor is it fun running agile software development controlled by an old-school PMO that does not buy into the values and principles. Nor is it effective trying to get external stakeholders engaged with agile teams when they don't work in a similar way. Many Scrum Masters have been relegated to team-only activities in Scrum because they think it is software only. This disempowers the team, and they are faced with external blockers that they are disempowered to deal with. Think big picture and help the organisation succeed.

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Agile development teams aim to deliver working software frequently, from a few weeks to a few months, with a preference for shorter timescales​​. Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/ASjak #EmphasizeFlexibility #ContinuousFeedback #Developers #Term‘AgileDevelopment #SnowbirdSkiResort #GlobalTechnologyFirm #LeverageCompetitiveAdvantages​​ #LongDevelopmentCycles #MinimumViableProduct #AgilePrioritizesDirect

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I think Jem Jelly likes to rile people up lol, but it's a good topic so I'll reshare. It is funny how "scrumban" is such a polarizing topic in our agile community. It even gets some agile coaches very upset. They say "it's not a thing!" Who ever said you can't mix two ways of working? When did it become sacrilegious? If you are a Scrum purist, I get it, you want to follow the guide... but if you're visualizing your work with a board, that's using a piece of Kanban. And... it's no big deal! The ProKanban folks will tell you it's absolutely a thing, they just like to call it "Kanban with Scrum". I like that better, fwiw. The word--the actual term--scrumban is mildly disturbing to me as a coach, only because I know the knee-jerk reaction in teams left to their own devices is to Frankenstein their own process without running individual experiments or actually talking about process in their retros to decide deliberately what they are doing and why. But just combining processes should be heralded as the absolute correct way to be the best agile you can be. All the processes, methods, frameworks, and methodologies in the world are just a toolbox for our skilled team members to choose from wisely in order to work in the way that is most meaningful for them and their environment. So yeah, mix it up. Stick the chocolate in the peanut butter. https://lnkd.in/eeyg3ys9

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we have planned an PI Objective which is an exploration enabler during PI Planning and team identified the approach and completed. when we do 'System demo' will we demo this as as part of it? I think yes we need to demo. Need experts view here. #scaledagileframework

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Not read the latest edition of the BA Digest magazine yet? Then check out this link including an espresso-sized summary of three of the articles in the magazine. https://lnkd.in/eZU97VgE #BusinessAnalysis #BACommunity #BADigest

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"If we get the team to work incrementally, in Scrum and with Jira, then they're agile, and they're good to go, and we can move on to the next one." Does this sound familiar? Focusing too much on the team level and not enough on the organisation is a common mistake in agile efforts. In this snippet from our roundtable at Agile 2023, Philip Heijkoop gets into the importance of having a broader perspective when it comes to your transformation. Watch now: https://bit.ly/3rwSNOF

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Context is key - insightful presentation by Nigel Thurlow 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇬🇧 and Dave Snowden - and an official introduction to Hexis https://lnkd.in/ebFbDeHY #lean #agile #leansixsigma #transformation #boundedapplicability #theflowsystem

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Understanding the four levels of the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®). Explore our latest blog post by Quinn Dodsworth, Certified SAFe® 6.0 Practice Consultant, where we break down the four levels of SAFe®. Learn how each level can help your organisation implement lean-agile practices at scale. Read more > https://hubs.la/Q02K8x5y0 #Agile #SAFe #LeanAgile #BusinessAgility #PMpartners #AgileTransformation #ProjectManagement

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Has your colleague made another Kanban card with barely any information, and now you're wondering what are they working on again? 🙄 Not to worry! We've gone through what makes a Kanban card great and got 5 useful examples of Kanban cards 👨‍🔧📊 https://lnkd.in/gq7c-uEe

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I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked; "Why don’t developers just test their own work? Why do I need to pay for a tester?" Taking the time to understand the value of the people who test and approve your works, is an important part of engaging with an agency. Undertaking this step will help you to not only see why testers are such an integral part of software development, but how they'll help you to maintain a stronger relationship with your agency. 1. Regression Testing If you don’t know what regression testing is, this is super important to understand. When you ask your agency to develop a new feature for your site, you want to be sure they’re undertaking regression testing. Essentially, this is the process of testing (end to end) the elements around your new functionality, to confirm that existing site capability is maintained. There’s no point adding new features to your site if you’re breaking existing ones; hence the value of your test team. 2. Manual Testing Manual testing is a test method often used when introducing small or isolated updates to your site. This process involves interacting with the feature just like one of your customers, and ensuring the functionality produced by your developers meets specification. Manual testing, unlike automated testing, is a great way to test standalone features and ensure they do what they’re supposed to. If not, well you guessed it, the job will be sent back to the developer to amend with notes on where the item has failed to pass testing criteria. 3. Automated Testing When it comes to testing highly important use-cases, your test team may opt to write automated test scripts. This may include simulating items such as adding to cart, making a purchase or new customer registrations; and are often run when major site upgrades are implemented to be 100% sure everything's working as intended. Automated testing, although time consuming to setup, can save tens of thousands of dollars across high traffic sites when something does go wrong..all thanks to your friends the testers. 4. "Can’t developers just do this” Like most things in I.T, testing is a very niche skill set. That’s not to say that developers don’t check the work they’re doing and pride themselves on getting it right first time, but the process of having a qualified test engineer sign off a piece of work is an invaluable part of the delivery workflow you can’t do without. When it comes to saving in money in I.T delivery, after you’ve been around this world a while, you’ll soon come to realise shortcuts aren’t the way to do it. Choosing to focus on quality delivery and product smarts, will always deliver greater results than saving a few dollars here or there. So, remember, if you’ve learnt anything today, it’s to love and appreciate your testers! Often under appreciated, however not so strangely; always a major part of any successful eCommerce business! #testing #eCommerce #retail #adobeCommerce #shopify #bigCommerce

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I see what this article is getting at and how this has become a sad reality in the recent past. We have clear concepts and buzzwords, lack basic domain knowledge and end up as people who speak but dont add value to the project/product teams.

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In this blog post from PST Matt Hodgson, learn why Scrum, often confined to the 'build' phase in traditional project frameworks, can be more effectively leveraged in a product-centric environment. https://ow.ly/kfvl50SScvM #SprintReview #Product #ProductMindset Matthew Hodgson

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