Title uses the shout out straight from the “Cotton-eyed
Joe”. I do live in Texas.
I am going to explore a common thread found in these two
articles discovered via Twitter. The
common thread is we must deliver software fast.
First I am going to offer an opinion on this article that
Michael Bolton commented about on Twitter - http://jeremydstanton.blogspot.com/2013/12/qa-is-dead-long-live-qa.html.
Second I am going to share a couple of opinions on
leveraging Kanban effectively. In my opinion delivering software fast you do
not necessarily impact creativity but you embrace creativity. This interview was discovered in a tweet by
Smartbear Software linking to this interview - http://blog.smartbear.com/testing/creative-software-testing-in-agile-environments-david-hussman/.
I must admit Mr. Stanton’s article got me riled. First of all it seemed to imply that Google
does not have testers, which is absolutely false. In fact Google has some amazing testers. If you get a chance to speak with Ankit Mehta
at Google and you will learn that integrated testers help keep the quality high
on the more critical Google applications. You will also learn that it is the community
of testers that shows the developers how to test and implement automation
effectively. In my opinion they are well
trained ninjas.
James Whitaker one of the author’s of the book “How Google
Tests Software” seems extremely developer centric in some of his writings and presentations. I have to admit the book is still in my queue
to read, but having listened to Mr. Whitaker speak I think he would admit there
are some great testers around and that testing is critical.
I would agree with one aspect about Mr. Stanton’s post and
that is many developers do not know how to test nor do they think they should test. Great testers can be important educators for
teams like this, if the team is willing to learn, listen and continuously
collaborate. It truly does require a culture shift that includes great testers in the paradigm.
I will try to summarize my rebuttal with some key bullet
points:
- Whether Scrum or Kanban try to remove the QA handoff by involving a great tester all along the way.
- Great testers can critique design, offer strategic planning, conduct code reviews, extend unit tests, and even help write code, especially automation.
- · Great testers can assemble the release and deploy the product. Once deployed they know how to quickly sniff out risk and locate critical defects the team may have been missed.
Embed a great tester and treat the tester as a first class
citizen, then you will see some amazing results.
I do like this statement “Design a workflow that requires developers to wipe their
own behinds, by writing automated tests for and testing their own code.” A story should not be complete until a
reasonable amount of test automation is in place. When a critical defect is found by a
customer, the developer should prepare to apply some Desitin cream to their
behinds by increasing the test coverage and manually experiencing the final
product for excellence.
Speaking
of delivering excellence, I think that is what David Hussman is about. David Hussman provided an excellent keynote
at "Keep Austin Agile" conference in 2013.
The
interviewer in the link above implies that because we have a desire to deliver
software fast that we skimp on creativity.
My opinion is if you skimp on creativity and innovation you may not be
creating an excellent product. Side bar
– I do love Mr. Hussman’s use of music to describe building great software.
The
interviewer also seems to imply that using Kanban there is no room for
creativity. Again I have to
disagree. Kanban is all about the flow
of delivering value. A story can sit on
that board for a period of time as long as other value is being delivered or
until the value of that story is truly recognized. Teams today can easily deliver pieces of
functionality in the “dark”, providing time for the team to be creative as they
develop. It is the sum of all the parts
that creates excellent software.
Kent
Beck predicted that delivering software would get faster in is keynote at the
2009 STP Conference. Software is being
delivered fast today, but delivering excellent software that delights customers
is the key. I think we must permit
creativity. In fact I have seen teams
have daisy changed Kanban boards where the first board outlines the creative
process of design and experimentation.
From my experience developers and testers are extremely creative and
nimble in their creativity. Perhaps we can call it "Rapid Creativity".
Kent
Beck was right and so is Jeremy Stanton in that we must adapt and change the
way we test software in today’s rapid paced world.