While many organisations have adopted the agile framework fully with a carefully planned strategy and 100% company commitment which means they are now reaping the benefits gained there are still plenty of software companies out there who have, for one reason or another, not. These companies still ignore the agile framework methodology or they have simply placed a taskboard in the centre of the office and stated ‘there, we are agile’. While it is true that the agile methodology is not for everyone and not every software development project is suited to the framework it is, however, the way forward for the majority of companies who are involved in software development. As agile has grown in popularity and usage over the decades the amount of literature about the subject has also grown. However most of the books currently available on the market focus on the project management or software development areas of the software development life cycle, there is still very little for the agile software tester to read. In the agile world; testing and the software tester are just as important as any other process or person and that is why I have written this book. Hopefully experienced and new testers alike will find some useful pointers within these humble pages which will help them enhance their career and enjoyment of testing software. Test professionals involvement in agile projects remains challenged because of the very different nature of the agile methodology compared to older methodologies such as waterfall and the V model. This is also not helped by a level of misunderstanding about the true nature of agile that persists in many companies and deep-rooted prejudices aimed at testers by some programmers and project managers (they are nothing more than failed programmers being a common feeling). Although there are many test professionals succeeding in agile projects, many others continue to struggle to succeed and achieve their true potential that their skills and dedication deserve. Testers who have spent many years testing outside of agile can also often struggle to make the jump across the waterfall. However with quality training, good management and self-belief this jump can be completed, this is where the third edition of this book comes in.
