Resolving the Gap between Development and Testing Using Agile

Organizations are made up of employees at various levels. They exist as groups based on the nature of work and hierarchy. At an organization level, these groups are collectively termed as “team”. These teams work together to achieve the common goals in an organization. In IT companies, individual teams consist of  Product analyst (PA), Business analyst (BA), System analyst (SA), Developers (Senior dev. + Junior), Tester, HR, Marketing etc,. Each team member has his/her set of responsibilities. For example, PA collects the requirements from the client side and the customer.

Similarly, BA estimates the profit and loss from the project and has to make important decisions on the finances. SA decides on the technology to be used and gives directions accordingly. HR is responsible for hiring employees as per the project demand. Developer is for coding part and Testers are for testing the code manually or using automation. Managers play a very pivotal role in organizing and coordinating all the above responsibilities.

Software Development is a complex process and involves the interaction of different individuals such as  software test engineers, software developers, business analyst etc. Conflicts arise between the developer and the tester on various occasions. These mainly stem from the difference in work methods, interests and opinions. Many a time, a Tester is considered as a junior developer. So there is a possibility that the tester will follow his own ways, which may not always merge well with the developer’s techniques. A conflict  is inevitable in such cases.

It is therefore advisable to iron out the differences between the software testing teams and the development teams. It will be possible only when they respect the roles and responsibilities of each other. Both testers and developers need to create healthy relationships between them so that they can rise above the traditional approach and achieve a synergy.

With the advent of Agile, these gaps have been bridged considerably. It aims at a more open communication between the two teams. It hinges on the principle that teams can work together to give rise to bigger results. In Cricket match, you do not use the name of one player for winning the match. Instead, you use the team name as a winning team. Similarly, in Software Development, organizations give credit to a team as a whole. It is never a question of which side won.

Agile process helps in developing a smooth relationship between Software Developers and Testers. Agile process includes Sprints or iterations which are shorter in duration. Sprints can vary from 2 weeks to 2 months. During this period,  prearranged features are developed and once development is complete, it is deployed to customer. Agile projects can have one or more iterations.

In agile process, the product owner regularly attends the daily scrums. The product backlog is redefined and gets updated every week. At the end of each iteration, a working product should be delivered. There is no need to send any carrier to report a bug to the development team separately. Daily meetings are arranged to decide all these things, which is headed by the Scrum Master.

In this way, Agile process is useful to get a final high quality product.

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