Category: learning

Using Mind Maps for Agile Test Planning

Nishi Grover GargLeave a comment

Mind maps are a creative way of gathering ideas around a central theme and categorizing them in concrete branches. Mind maps can be useful for both personal and professional life as an organization and visualization technique. They’re descriptive, easy and even fun.

In my latest post for Gurock blog, I showcase the usage of mind maps as a technique for test planning and test design. This tool’s capabilities make your documentation leaner and ideas more visual, which benefits the whole agile team.
https://blog.gurock.com/agile-mind-map/

Be it test planning in an agile team which needs entire team’s insights and collaboration, or categorization of product features, test areas and backlog, Mindmaps can be used for all aspects and phases of the project.

Testers can generate their test ideas and have them categorized in a mind map around the central theme of the feature. The visual nature of a mind map helps them find more scenarios, see which parts are more heavily tested, and focus on main areas or branches. Once done, they can have other stakeholders take a look at it and get their opinions. This fosters brainstorming together and gathers the maximum number of ideas from the entire team.

Find useful tips to create your own mindmaps, as well as some samples for your reference in agile test designing as well as test planning. Read the complete article here ->
https://blog.gurock.com/agile-mind-map/

Share your thoughts!

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Making the case for Usability Testing in Agile

Nishi Grover GargLeave a comment

My first experience with usability testing was on an agile team where the product we were building was being designed with the help of an in-house usability expert. He helped design the user interface (UI) of the application and conduct usability study on the beta version of the software to determine the ease of use of the application.

Though the experience was limited in terms of the interaction we had with the user representatives and the sessions conducted, the feedback we received opened up lots of new avenues for the tester in me around the learnability, understandability and attractiveness of the application I was testing.

Usability has matured a lot over the years. It’s now an essential software characteristic in today’s web and mobile applications. In my article published at the TestRail blog, I discuss ways of performing Usability tests and developing a mindset for Usability in an agile context.

https://blog.gurock.com/usability-testing-agile-projects/

We also discuss about Usability Study , how to set it up and achieve maximum benefits from it.

To read the complete article — (opens in a new tab)”>Click here –>

Prevention is the Best Cure- for Defects in Agile

Nishi Grover GargLeave a comment

The agile methodology focuses on building in quality from the very beginning of the software lifecycle. That is why we aim to find and fix defects early on: A defect found and fixed in an earlier lifecycle phase is a multitude cheaper than the same defect at a later stage.

But how can we more easily make it possible to prevent defects from percolating deeper in the software development lifecycle by fixing them in their nascent stages?

This is the main theme of my latest article for @Gurock TestRail blog – where I explore and explain ways to foresee, analyze and thwart defects in an agile context.

The main points discussed are-

Communication

Conduct Reviews

Demonstrate Often

Static Analysis and CI

Click Here to read the complete article –>

Please support by liking / commenting and sharing the article!

Cheers

Nishi

Look Back to Plan Forward – Learnings from 2018

Nishi Grover GargLeave a comment

Every year we see the software industry evolving at a rapid pace. This implies changes in the way testing is conducted within the software lifecycle, test processes, techniques and tools, and the tester’s skill set, too.

I’ve been into agile for more than a decade, and I’m still learning, changing and growing each year along with our industry. Here are five of my key lessons and observations from 2018. I hope they help you in the coming year!

https://blog.gurock.com/lessons-for-agile-testers/

In my article published on Gurock blog, I talk about the 5 key learnings for Agile testers from the past year and how they will be key in planning your road ahead in 2019. The key learning areas discussed are —

Testing Earlier in DevOps

Getting Outside the Box

Increasing Focus on Usability Testing

Enhancing Mobile and Performance Testing

Integrating Tools and Analyzing Metrics

Click Here to read the complete article — >

https://blog.gurock.com/lessons-for-agile-testers/

The 12 Agile Principles: What We Hear vs. What They Actually Mean

Nishi Grover GargLeave a comment

The Agile Manifesto gives us 12 principles to abide by in order to implement agility in our processes. These principles are the golden rules to refer to when we’re looking for the right agile mindset. But are we getting the right meaning out of them?

In my latest article for Gurock TestRail blog, I examine what we mistakenly hear when we’re told the 12 principles, what pain points the agile team face due to these misunderstandings, and what each principle truly means.

 

Principle 1: Our Highest Priority is to Satisfy the Customer Through Early and Continuous Delivery of Valuable Software

What we hear: Let’s have frequent releases to show the customer our agility, and if they don’t like the product, we can redo it.

The team’s pain points: Planning frequent releases that aren’t thought out well increases repetitive testing, reduces quality and gives more chances for defect leakage.

What it really means: Agile requires us to focus on quick and continuous delivery of useful software to customers in order to accelerate their time to market.

Principle 2:

Check out the complete post here —- Click Here to Read more–>

 

Do share your stories and understanding of the 12 Agile Principles!

Cheers

Nishi

A Day in the Life of an Agile Tester

Nishi Grover Garg1 Comment

An agile tester’s work life is intriguing, busy and challenging. A typical day is filled with varied activities like design discussions, test planning, strategizing for upcoming sprints, collaborating with developers on current user stories, peer reviews for teammates, test execution, working with business analysts for requirement analysis and planning automation strategies.

In my article for Gurock TestRail blog, I have explored a typical day in the life of an agile tester and how varied activities and tasks keep her engaged, busy and on her toes all the time!

agile tester.png

Let’s sneak a peek into a day in the life of an agile tester — > You will go through the daily routine of an agile tester and will experience their complicated schedule in real time.

Read full article

https://blog.gurock.com/agile-tester-work-life/

 

5 Mistakes to avoid in Agile Retrospectives

Nishi Grover GargLeave a comment

Retrospectives are an integral part of every project we undertake, as well as a key ceremony in the Scrum lifecycle. Agile principally stresses the need to perform periodic meetings to reflect on the functioning of the team, their processes and actions and try to improve their shortcomings, so retrospectives are essential. The team gets to look back on their work and answer three key questions: What went well? What did not go well? How can we improve?

Even if agile teams perform retrospectives as a regular part of their project lifecycle, there are a few common mistakes they may be making due to a lack of understanding, perspective or communication, and these mistakes can prevent obtaining the maximum benefits of the retrospective.

In my article for Gurock TestRail blog, I have discussed five common mistakes that we must avoid in Agile Retrospectives.

 

Click Here to Read more

Do let me know your thoughts!

Cheers

Nishi

 

The crucial guide to Software Testing for Project Managers

Nishi Grover Garg1 Comment

Being a Project manager you often need to take on new challenges and create guidelines for projects in a field you are not always familiar with.

You might have some experience working with a team of software developers, which gives you insight into the relevant testing disciplines. Or you may have directly come in as a project manager and need to begin understanding the process from scratch. Whatever the case may be, we are sure you already have enough on your plate. That is why I have gathered a few basic guidelines – both technical and methodological – to help you succeed in your new assignment as a test project leader!

My guest post for PractiTest is now up on the QA Learning Centre-

Dedicated to all PMs – here I discuss the Software Testing 101 making this a guide to all PMs to all things crucial in test process management. Read More..

https://www.practitest.com/qa-learningcenter/thank-you/software-testing-guide-project-managers/

state of mind

Do give it a read and share your thoughts!
-Nishi

 

Five Tips to manage your Outsourced testing

Nishi Grover Garg1 Comment

Want to Outsource your testing? Here are my “5 tips to manage your outsourced testing”

I have begun collaborating with PractiTest and with the help of Rachel, my article has now been published @PractiTest Learning Center.

In this article I have discussed about the practical risks for teams that outsource their testing efforts. I have brought forward 5 key tips and tricks to manage their outsourced software testing along with team and people issues as follows:

  • Treat Them like your Team
  • Invest in training the Outsourced Team
  • Meet often, and also in person
  • Centralised System for Test Management
  • Account for Cultural Differences

Please give it a read and share your thoughts!

https://www.practitest.com/qa-learningcenter/thank-you/manage-your-outsourced-testing/

Thanks

Nishi

I am speaking at the ‘Selenium Summit 2018’ @Pune

Nishi Grover GargLeave a comment

Hello!

Check it out!

I am speaking at the Selenium Automation Summit 2018 being organised on 22nd March 2018 by ATA @ Pune.

Find more details about the event at : http://seleniumsummit18.agiletestingalliance.org/

I will be presenting a 90 minute- hands-on workshop on:

“Selenium with Cucumber for an extended BDD Framework”

Are you interested in looking into the trend of Behavior Driven Development? Would you like to see it in action using Cucumber? Would you like to integrate your functional tests in such a framework using integration of Selenium within Cucumber? Then this is the workshop for you!

This workshop will cover

  • Practical issues faced by most testing teams
  • Behavior Driven Development – the definition and need
  • Extending the Agile User stories and acceptance criteria in BDD scenarios
  • Cucumber as a BDD tool
  • Integration of Cucumber with Selenium in order to perform functional tests
  • Demo using Cucumber with Selenium with a real use case
  • Usage and Benefits of BDD In agile teams

Let’s meet there!

-Nishi