{"id":14724,"date":"2020-07-09T19:04:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T13:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti\/blog\/?p=14724"},"modified":"2023-03-06T18:35:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T13:05:34","slug":"agile-transformation-test-automation-tools-processes-agile-trans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti\/blog\/agile-transformation-test-automation-tools-processes-agile-trans\/","title":{"rendered":"The right people, processes, and tools for agile transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Agile transformation, enterprises are trying to embed customer-centricity into the core of their processes.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But amidst the slow-moving legacy processes,\u00a0<\/span>siloed<\/span>\u00a0functions, and lethargic innovation initiatives, enterprises are struggling to find the right mix of components for bringing in\u00a0<\/span>Agile<\/span>\u00a0transformation the right way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to drive individuals in a fast-moving environment and inspire innovation and creativity, the enterprises need to achieve an optimal balance between speed, efficiency, and reliability.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Bland, Senior Global Test Manager at Premier Farnell, and Nanda Padmaraju, Senior Vice President at Cigniti Technology, recently talked on our\u00a0<\/span>podcast<\/span><\/a>\u00a0about the key processes, leadership skills, and tools & technology required to do Agile the right way. This blog is an excerpt from their discussion on the\u00a0<\/span>QATalks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0podcast.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Difference between doing agile and being agile<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Doing agile and being agile are two different mindsets. While if an enterprise is simply doing agile, it is following the steps, rules, and the guidelines of Ag<\/span>ile processes. But doing so is like dipping only your to<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0into the water.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, being agile is about building an enterprise based on the culture and principles of Agile, and integrating them into every step of the way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This leads to the complete\u00a0<\/span>Agile<\/span>\u00a0transformation<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To explain further, Mark\u00a0<\/span>puts<\/span>\u00a0it as –\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cY<\/span>ou can follow all the steps and run an agile process and stick to all the rules and guidelines set out for best practices. We\u2019re running agile and you can do all that while still underneath I\u2019ll believe it\u2019s just a fad or a trend and just pay the whole thing lip service. So, you\u2019ll manage, you\u2019ll get well delive<\/span>red, and you\u2019ll be doing agile.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>But then what you hope happens is that over time\u00a0<\/span>you<\/span>\u00a0will start to realize the benefit of delivering in this way and will start to buy into the principal and the culture of it. I think that\u2019s when you stop being agile, when everything that you do is approached i<\/span>n the agile, collaborative way.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>So, any challenge you face, you don\u2019t go back to the drawing board and go back to old methods of dealing with these problems. You come together wi<\/span>th a new solution, not problem.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Key<\/span><\/b>\u00a0leadership characteristics required in an agile transformation<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are four key leadership characteristics that are needed to drive a successful agile transformation in an organization \u2013\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Openness to change<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. H<\/span>umility and approach of collaboration\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. leader<\/span>ship that does not micromanage<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. trust \u2013 fostering that within your team, and\u00a0<\/span>instilling<\/span>\u00a0trust\u00a0<\/span>in your leadership as well<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Mark elaborates on these four characteristics as \u2013\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cY<\/span>ou\u2019ve got to be open<\/span>–<\/span>minded and willing to embrace change.\u00a0<\/span>It will<\/span>\u00a0give you an opportunity to work together as a team and really deliver something with a common goal rather than traditional methods, which would have been some way that teams working against each other at times.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cY<\/span>ou<\/span>\u2019ve got to have the<\/span>\u00a0ability to listen to other people\u2019s opinions<\/span>\u00a0and be<\/span>\u00a0willing t<\/span>o have your opinion challenged.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201c<\/span>You\u2019ve got a collaborative mindset. You\u2019ve got to be one willing to work with other people and contribute to work as a team.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cLearn<\/span>\u00a0to step back and allow\u00a0<\/span>your<\/span>\u00a0team to self-organize<\/span>. N<\/span>ot only make but learn from their own mistakes without jumping in and micromanaging them.\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>t ta<\/span>kes a lot of courage and trust.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201c<\/span>I think as a manager, I need to trust my team and I need to have the courage to stand back and let them deliver using the skills that I hired them for<\/span>. B<\/span>ut also<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0pass that message back up to my management and go the other way with that<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and coach my management to trust that we will deliver what\u2019s been asked of us.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Building customer-facing digital experiences with\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Agile<\/span><\/b>\u00a0transformation<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Customers today expect a friction-less, smooth digital experience. For building these customer-facing digital experiences, enterprises should not only embrace Agile but the right testing practices as well.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Mark recommends a few changes to orchestrate a seamless digital experience for the customers, based on what he is implementing in his organization:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cI<\/span>mplementing testing practices as a whole that enable a faster delivery and the test code in a really short timescale is the key. Contr<\/span>i<\/span>buting more to the team, getting more involved with the solution and the sculpting side of the applications, the new things that we were delivering and making sure we are catching any failure at all and risks, but also making sure that we can\u00a0<\/span>offer\u00a0<\/span>feedback at that point\u00a0<\/span>about\u00a0<\/span>the experiences we\u2019ve had with customers and the negativity we\u2019ve seen with things t<\/span>hat haven\u2019t worked in the past.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cO<\/span>ne of the things that moved us forward a lot in terms of providing a better solution for our customers was introducing the likes of security test into our basic automation test<\/span>s<\/span>, smoke tests, and principles. So\u00a0<\/span>we are\u00a0<\/span>covering another risk that customers<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0base is very aware of in terms of their security and financial data security, but also looking at how you can then expand on that and look at introducing early testing for accessibility in those kinds of usability challenges that you\u2019ve started to come to the forefront in terms of creative design and application design.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cW<\/span>e tried to focus on expanding our automation coverage to cover more variations, of user scenario<\/span>, a more compatibility type way \u2013\u00a0<\/span>different browsers, different types of setup within the actual application, including mobile\u00a0<\/span>variation and tablet variations \u2013\u00a0<\/span>to deliver a much more rounded qual<\/span>ity experience to you customer.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Role of test automation in\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Agile<\/span><\/b>\u00a0transformation<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Test automation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0helps organizations achieve<\/span>\u00a0effectiveness, efficiency, and coverage of the software testing<\/span>. And, with shorter sprints in Agile, test automation becomes the sole guard of the quality aspects in any release.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Talking about the benefits of test automation, in addition to shorter time-to-market, Mark said \u2013\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cA<\/span>utomation, if you implement it correctly, it doesn\u2019t just add another layer of testing. What, in theory, it should do is move obstacles out of your current test team\u2019s way to enable them to do much more complex and interesting testing.<\/span>\u00a0Y<\/span>ou get your teams more engaged because they\u2019re doing the more interesting testing themselves manually. But then you give yourself this capability to expand the breadth of your automation coverage, and your test coverage to cover multiple web browsers, cover multiple combinations of compatibility issues to cover security, to c<\/span>over a lots more functionality.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Mark recalled his own testing challenges in his organization as \u2013<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201c<\/span>For ourselves, one of the big challenges we had was that we actually have 48 websites. Across those 48\u00a0<\/span>websites<\/span>, we cover 28 languages. So, there\u2019s a lot of variation in that as manual test<\/span>s<\/span>. If you were to test all of that and make sure it was right in all those scenarios, you\u2019ll be there for weeks. The automation gives us the ability to write a single set of tests that we can roll out with just environment variabl<\/span>es to cover those variations.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u00a0<\/span>gives you that capability to test wider, reduce regression times, and expand the amount of tests you are doing, all in a much smaller timeframe, which is invaluable because, as we all know, time<\/span>–<\/span>to<\/span>–<\/span>market is the biggest demand now.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201c<\/span>I\u2019m a firm believer that there\u2019s a shift in our market from quality assurance to delivery assurance where people are more concerned about getting things fast<\/span>\u00a0and about getting things right<\/span>. So, we\u2019ve really got to cater to our customers with that and be able to deliver at that pa<\/span>ce while keeping that risk low.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Importance of having an enterprise test strategy<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Having an enterprise test strategy helps realize the benefits of<\/span>\u00a0scalability, reusability,<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0maintainability<\/span>, which<\/span>\u00a0can drive a lot of efficiency gains\u00a0<\/span>t<\/span>ranslat<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0into multi-million dollar savings\u00a0<\/span>per year for large enterprises.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Nanda lists a few factors that make an enterprise test strategy a must-have and says \u2013\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cHaving a signed off enterprise test strategy is fundamental to ensuring quality in everything that goes into production. The test strategy will act as a Bible and not just for the testing function, but also for the upstream Dev and downstream Ops.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n