Agile Methodology

There are various methods present in agile testing, and those are listed below:

Scrum

SCRUM is an agile development method which concentrates specifically on how to manage tasks within a team-
based development environment. Basically, Scrum is derived from activity that occurs during a rugby match. Scrum
believes in empowering the development team and advocates working in small teams (say- 7 to 9 members). It
consists of three roles, and their responsibilities are explained as follows:

 Scrum Master
o Master is responsible for setting up the team, sprint meeting and removes obstacles to progress
 Product owner
o The Product Owner creates product backlog, prioritizes the backlog and is responsible for the delivery
of the functionality at each iteration
 Scrum Team
o Team manages its own work and organizes the work to complete the sprint or cycle

Product Backlog

This is a repository where requirements are tracked with details on the no of requirements(user stories) to be
completed for each release. It should be maintained and prioritized by Product Owner, and it should be distributed to
the scrum team. Team can also request for a new requirement addition or modification or deletion

Scrum Practices

Practices are described in detailed:

Process flow of Scrum Methodologies:

Process flow of scrum testing is as follows:

 Each iteration of a scrum is known as Sprint

 Product backlog is a list where all details are entered to get the end-product
 During each Sprint, top user stories of Product backlog are selected and turned into Sprint backlog
 Team works on the defined sprint backlog
 Team checks for the daily work
 At the end of the sprint, team delivers product functionality

eXtreme Programming (XP)

Extreme Programming technique is very helpful when there is constantly changing demands or requirements from the
customers or when they are not sure about the functionality of the system. It advocates frequent "releases" of the
product in short development cycles, which inherently improves the productivity of the system and also introduces a
checkpoint where any customer requirements can be easily implemented. The XP develops software keeping
customer in the target.

Business requirements are gathered in terms of stories. All those stories are stored in a place called the parking lot.

In this type of methodology, releases are based on the shorter cycles called Iterations with span of 14 days time
period. Each iteration includes phases like coding, unit testing and system testing where at each phase some minor or
major functionality will be built in the application.

Phases of eXtreme programming:

There are 6 phases available in Agile XP method, and those are explained as follows:

Planning

 Identification of stakeholders and sponsors

 Infrastructure Requirements
 Security related information and gathering
 Service Level Agreements and its conditions

Analysis

 Capturing of Stories in Parking lot

 Prioritize stories in Parking lot
 Scrubbing of stories for estimation
 Define Iteration SPAN(Time)
 Resource planning for both Development and QA teams

Design

 Break down of tasks

 Test Scenario preparation for each task
 Regression Automation Framework

Execution

 Coding
 Unit Testing
 Execution of Manual test scenarios
 Defect Report generation
 Conversion of Manual to Automation regression test cases
 Mid Iteration review
 End of Iteration review

Wrapping

 Small Releases
 Regression Testing
 Demos and reviews
 Develop new stories based on the need
 Process Improvements based on end of iteration review comments

Closure

 Pilot Launch
 Training
 Production Launch
 SLA Guarantee assurance
 Review SOA strategy
 Production Support

There are two storyboards available to track the work on a daily basis, and those are listed below for reference.

 Story Cardboard
o This is a traditional way of collecting all the stories in a board in the form of stick notes to track daily
XP activities. As this manual activity involves more effort and time, it is better to switch to an online
form.
 Online Storyboard
o Online tool Storyboard can be used to store the stories. Several teams can use it for different
purposes.
Crystal Methodologies

Crystal Methodology is based on three concepts

1. Chartering: Various activities involved in this phase are creating a development team, performing a
preliminary feasibility analysis, developing an initial plan and fine-tuning the development methodology
2. Cyclic delivery: The main development phase consists of two or more delivery cycles, during which the
1. Team updates and refines the release plan
2. Implements a subset of the requirements through one or more program test integrate iterations
3. Integrated product is delivered to real users
4. Review of the project plan and adopted development methodology
3. Wrap Up: The activities performed in this phase are deployment into the user environment, post- deployment
reviews and reflections are performed.

Dynamic Software Development Method (DSDM)

DSDM is a Rapid Application Development (RAD) approach to software development and provides an agile project
delivery framework. The important aspect of DSDM is that the users are required to be involved actively, and the
teams are given the power to make decisions. Frequent delivery of product becomes the active focus with DSDM. The
techniques used in DSDM are

1. Time Boxing
2. MoSCoW Rules
3. Prototyping

The DSDM project consists of 7 phases

1. Pre-project
2. Feasibility Study
3. Business Study
4. Functional Model Iteration
5. Design and build Iteration
6. Implementation
7. Post-project

Feature Driven Development (FDD)

This method is focused around "designing & building" features. Unlike other agile methods, FDD describes very
specific and short phases of work that has to be accomplished separately per feature. It includes domain walkthrough,
design inspection, promote to build, code inspection and design. FDD develops product keeping following things in the
target

1. Domain object Modeling

2. Development by feature
3. Component/ Class Ownership
4. Feature Teams
5. Inspections
6. Configuration Management
7. Regular Builds
8. Visibility of progress and results

Lean Software Development

Lean software development method is based on the principle "Just in time production". It aims at increasing speed of
software development and decreasing cost. Lean development can be summarized in seven steps.

1. Eliminating Waste
2. Amplifying learning
3. Defer commitment (deciding as late as possible)
4. Early delivery
5. Empowering the team
 6. Building Integrity
7. Optimize the whole

Kanban

Kanban originally emerged from Japanese word that means, a card containing all the information needed to be done
on the product at each stage along its path to completion. This framework or method is quite adopted in software
testing method especially in agile testing.

Scrum Vs Kanban

Scrum Kanban

 In scrum technique, test must be broken down so  No particular item size is prescribed
that they can be completed within one sprint

 Prescribes a prioritized product backlog  Prioritization is optional

 Scrum team commits to a particular amount of  Commitment is optional

work for the iteration

 Burndown chart is prescribed  No particular item size is prescribed

 Between each sprint, a scrum board is reset  A Kanban board is persistent. It limits the
number of items in workflow state

 It cannot add items to ongoing iteration  It can add items whenever capacity is
available

 WIP limited indirectly  WIP limited directly

 Timeboxed iterations prescribed  Timeboxed iterations optional

Agile metrics:

Metrics that can be collected for effective usage of Agile is:

 Drag Factor
o Effort in hours which do not contribute to sprint goal
o Drag factor can be improved by reducing number of shared resources, reducing the amount of non-
contributing work
o New estimates can be increased by percentage of drag factor -New estimate = (Old estimate+drag
factor)
 Velocity
o Amount of backlog(user stories) converted to shippable functionality of sprint
 No of Unit Tests added
 Time interval taken to complete daily build
 Bugs detected in an iteration or in previous iterations
  Production defect leakage

SAFe Methodology Tutorial: What is Scaled Agile Framework

What is a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)?

Scaled Agile Framework SAFe, is a freely available online knowledge base that allows you to apply lean-agile
practices at the enterprise level. It provides a simple, lightweight experience for the software development team. The
whole framework is divided into three segments Team, Program and Portfolio. We will see this in detail later on.
SAFe allows team for,

 Implementing Lean-Agile software and systems in enterprise level

 It's based on Lean and Agile principles.
 It gives detailed guidance for work at the enterprise Portfolio, Value Stream, Program, and Team.
 It's designed to meet the needs of all stakeholders within an organization.

SAFe was first developed in the field and was elaborated in Dean Leffingwell's books and blog. Version 1.0 is the
first official release in 2011. The latest version is 4.6, was released in October 2018. It provides guidance to work at
enterprise Portfolio, Value Stream, Program, and Team levels.

In this tutorial, you will learn-

 What is Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

 Why to use Agile Framework
 When to Use Scaled Agile Framework
 How different than other Agile practices
 Foundations of Scaled Agile Framework
 Agile Manifesto
 Different Levels in SAFE
o Team Level
o Program Level
o Portfolio Level
o Value Stream Level

Why to use Agile Framework

It is simpler and lighter in weight, yet it expands to handle the needs of large value streams and complex system
development. By implementing an Agile Framework, you will have following benefits,

 Productivity increased by 20 - 50%

 Quality increased more than 50%
 Time to Market is faster than 30 -75%
 Increased employee engagement and job satisfaction.

The detailed framework diagram is available on the website. It shows all of the key roles, Activities, deliverables, and
flows. It also serves as a navigational aid to the rest of the site.

The below image explains how agile process works. Epics are a large body of work, which is further broken down into
a number of smaller stories or sub-epics. These sub-epics are allocated to the team as a story. Each team then work
on these stories or software features accordingly.
When to Use Scaled Agile Framework

 When a team is interested to implement an agile approach consistently across larger, multi-team programs
and portfolios.
 When multiple teams are running their own way of Agile implementation but regularly facing obstacles, delays,
and failures.
 When teams want to work independently.
 When you want to scale Agile across the organization but not sure what new roles may be needed or what
existing roles (i.e., management) need to change and how.
 When you have attempted to scale the Agile across your organization but struggling in alignment to achieve
uniform or consistent strategy across business departments from portfolio to program and team levels.
 When an organization needs to improve its product development lead time and want to know how other
companies have succeeded in scaling Agile with SAFe.

How different than other Agile practices

Let's see how Scaled Agile framework is different from other agile practices,

 It's publicly available and free to use.

 Available in a highly approachable and usable form.
 It's lightweight, practically proven results and specific to level.
 It constantly/regularly modifies/maintains most commonly used agile practices.
 Offers useful extensions to common agile practices.
 Grounds agile practices to an enterprise context.
 Offers complete picture of software development.
 Visibility or transparency is more on all the levels.
 Continues or regular feedback on quality and improvement.

Foundations of Scaled Agile Framework

Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe): It stands on the foundations of its

1. Lean-Agile Principles
2. Core Values,
3. Lean-Agile Leadership
4. Lean-Agile Mind-set,
5. Communities of Practice(Group of people who are constantly working on SAFe practices)
6. Implementing 1-2-3

1. SAFe Lean-Agile Principles

These basic principles and values for SAFe must be understood, exhibited and continued in order to get the desired
results.

 Take an economic view

 Apply systems thinking
 Assume variability; preserve options
 Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles
 Base milestones on an objective evaluation of working systems
 Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes and manage queue lengths
 Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning
 Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers
 Decentralize decision-making

2. SAFe Agile Core Values

The SAFe agile is based on these four values.

Alignment:

 SAFe supports alignment.

 Alignment starts at,
o Strategic Themes in Portfolio Backlog and
o Moves down to Vision and Roadmap of Program Backlogs and then
o Moves to the Team Backlogs.

Built-in Quality:

 It ensures that every incremental delivery reflects the quality standards.

 Quality is not "added later" is built in.
 Built-in quality is a prerequisite of Lean and its mandatory

Transparency:

 Transparency is the enabler for trust.

 SAFe helps the enterprise to achieve transparency at all levels- Executives, Portfolio Managers, and other
stakeholders.
  Everyone can see into the portfolio backlog/Kanban, program backlogs/Kanban, and Team Backlog/Kanban.
 Each level has a clear understanding of the PI goals.
 Train Programs have visibility into the team's backlogs, as well other program backlogs
 Teams and programs have visibility into business and architecture Epics. They can see what might be headed
their way.

Program Execution:

 SAFe places great focus on working systems and resultant business outcomes.
 SAFe is not useful if teams can't execute and continuously deliver value.

3. Lean Agile Leaders:

The Lean-Agile Leaders are lifelong learners and teachers. It helps teams to build better systems through
understanding and exhibiting the Lean-Agile SAFe Principles.

As an enabler for the teams, the ultimate responsibility is adoption, success and ongoing improvement of Lean-Agile
developments. For the change and continuous improvement, leaders must be trained.

Leaders need to adopt a new style of leadership. One that truly empowers and engages individuals and teams to
reach their highest potential.

Principles of these Lean-Agile Leaders

 Lead the Change

 Know the Way; Emphasize Lifelong Learning
 Develop People
 Inspire and Align with Mission; Minimize Constraints
 Decentralize Decision-Making
 Unlock the Intrinsic Motivation of Knowledge Workers

4. Lean Agile Mind-Set:

Lean-Agile mindset is represented in two things:

1. The SAFe House of Lean

2. Agile Manifesto

The SAFe House of Lean:

SAFe is derived from Lean manufacturing principles and practices. Based on these factors SAFe presents the "SAFe
House of Lean". It is inspired by "house" of lean Toyota.

The Goal of lean is unbeatable: To deliver maximum customer value in the shortest lead time with the highest possible
quality to customer

Below figure explains the Goal, Pillars, and Foundation of "SAFe House of Lean."
Agile Manifesto

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have
come to value:

That' why, while there is a value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Agile Manifesto

1. The highest priority is to satisfy the customer through continuous and early delivery of valuable software.
2. Embrace the changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the
customer's benefit.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the
shorter timescale.
4. Developers and business people must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them support and the environment they need, and trust them
to get the job done.
6. The most efficient method for communication with a development team is a face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to
maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior
accordingly.

Different Levels in SAFE

There are two different types of SAFe implementation:

1. SAFe 4.0 implementation

2. SAFe 3.0 implementation
  In SAFe 4.0 implementation we have 4-Levels: Portfolio, Value Stream, Program, and Team.
 In SAFe 3.0 implementation we have 3-Levels: Portfolio, Program, and Team
 3-Level SAFe is for smaller implementations with 100 or fewer people. Programs that do not require
significant collaboration.
 4-Level SAFe is for solutions that typically require many hundreds of practitioners to develop deploy and
maintain software.

Team Level

Roles/Teams Events Artifacts

* Agile Team * Sprint Planning * Team Backlog

* Product Owner * Backlog Grooming * Non-Functional Requirements

* Scrum Master * Daily Stand-Up * Team PI Objectives

* Execution * Iterations

* Sprint Demo * Stories(Working Software)

* Sprint Retrospective * Sprint Goals

* IP Sprints * Built-In Quality

* Spikes

* Team Kanban

 All SAFe teams are part of one or other Agile Release Train (ART).
 SAFe teams are empowered, self-organizing, self-managing, cross-functional teams
 Each team is equally responsible for defining, building and testing stories from their Team Backlog in a fixed-
length Iterations
 Teams plan and execute two-week time-boxed iterations in accordance with agreed-to Iteration Goals.
  Teams will use ScrumXP/Team Kanban routine to deliver high-quality systems to produce a System Demo on
every two weeks.
 All different teams in the ART (Agile Release Trains) will create an integrated and tested system.
Stakeholders will evaluate and respond with fast feedback
 They apply Built-in Quality practices.
 Each ScrumXP team will have 5-9 team members, which includes all the roles necessary to build a quality
incremental value in each Iteration.
 ScrumXP roles includes:
o Team(Dev+QA)
o Scrum Master
o Product Owner. Etc..
 SAFe divides the development timeline into a set of iterations within a PI (Program Increment).
 PI duration is between 8 -12 weeks.
 The team will use stories to deliver the value. The Product Owner will have content authority over their
creation and acceptance of the stories.
 Stories contain Customer's requirements.
 Team Backlog includes user and enabler stories, which are identified during PI planning. When the Product
Management presents the Roadmap, Vision, and Program Backlog.
 Identifying, elaborating, prioritizing, scheduling, implementing, testing, and accepting the stories are the
primary requirements of management work in team level.
 Each iteration provides:
o A valuable increment of new functionality
o Accomplish via constantly repeating pattern
o Plan the iteration
o Commit to some functionality
o Execute the iteration by building and testing Stories
o Demo the new functionality
o Retrospective
o Repeat for the next iteration
 Teams also support the System Demo at the end of each Iteration. which is the critical integration point for the
ART.
 Larger Value Streams will have multiple ARTs.
 The Innovation and Planning (IP) Iterations leverage the teams with an opportunity for innovation and
exploration.

Program Level

Roles/Teams Events Artifacts

* DevOps * PI(Program Increment) Planning * Vision

* System Team * System Demos * Roadmap

* Release Management * Inspect and Adopt Workshop * Metrics

* Product Management * Architectural Runway * Milestones

* UEX Architect * Release Any Time * Releases

* Release Train Engineer(RTE) * Agile Release Train * Program Epics

* System Architect/Engineer * Release * Program Kanban

* Business Owners * Program Backlog

* Lean-Agile Leaders * Non-Functional Requirements

* Communities of Practice * Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)

* Shared Services * Program PI Objectives

* Customer * Feature

* Enabler

* Solution

* Value Stream Coordination

 In Program level, Value of SAFe is delivered by long-lived Agile Release Trains (ART). Iteration is for team
and train is for the program.
 Agile Release Trains (ART) is the primary vehicle for value delivery at the program level. It delivers a value
stream to the organization.
 The Program Increments (PIs) duration is of 8 to 12 weeks.
 ART is of 5 - 12 Agile Teams (~50 – 125+ people) which includes all the roles and infrastructure needed to
deliver fully tested, working, system-level software.
 Each PI is a multiple-Iteration time box. During which a significant, valuable increment of the system is
developed and delivered.
 In each PI a "demo" and "Inspect and adapt" sessions will happen, and Planning begins for the next PSI.
 At the Program level, SAFe emphasis on the principle of alignment. This is because multiple agile team efforts
are integrated to create customer value.
 SAFe artifact hierarchy is Epics->features->user stories.
 At a Program level, Product Manager/Program Manager has content authority. He defines and prioritizes the
program backlog.
 Program backlog is a prioritized list of features.
 At the program level, features can be originated, or they can derive from epics defined at the portfolio level.
 Features decompose to user stories and flow into team-level backlogs.
 Product Manager or the Release Train Engineer role could be handled by the Program Manager/Senior
Project Manager
 System Architect role at the program level is to collaborate day to day work with the teams. It ensures that
non-functional requirements are met. Also, they work with the enterprise architect at the portfolio level to make
sure there is sufficient architectural runway to support upcoming user and business needs.
 Interface design, user experience guidelines and design elements for the teams are provided by UX
Designers.
 Chief-Scrum Master role is played by 'Release Train Engineer'.
 Various team (from marketing, development, quality, operations, and deployment) forms 'Release
Management Team'. They will approve routine releases of quality solutions to customers.
 Deployment of software into customer environments and successful delivery is taken care of by DevOps
team.
Portfolio Level

Roles/Teams Events Artifacts

* Enterprise Architect * Strategic Investment Planning * Strategic Themes

* Program Portfolio Mgmt * Kanban Portfolio(Epic) Planning * Enterprise

* Epic Owners * Portfolio Backlog

* Portfolio Kanban

* Non-Functional Requirements

* Epic and Enabler

* Value Stream

* Budgets(CapEx and OpEx)

 Highest level of interest/ concern /involvement/ in SAFe is SAFe Portfolio

 The portfolio provides the basic blocks for organizing the Lean-Agile Enterprise flow of value via one or more
Value Streams.
 The portfolio helps to develop systems and solutions which are described in strategic themes (links a SAFe
portfolio to the changing business strategy of an enterprise).
 To meet strategic objectives, portfolio level encapsulates these elements. It provides basic budgeting and
other governance mechanisms. This way it assures that the investment in the value streams provides the
returns necessary for the enterprise.
 A portfolio is connected to business bi-directionally:
o In order to guide the Portfolio to the larger changing business objectives, it provides strategic themes.
o Another direction indicates the constant flow of portfolio values.
 Program Portfolio Management acts as stakeholders, and they are accountable to deliver the business
results.
 SAFe Portfolio Level contains people, processes and necessary build systems and solutions that an
enterprise needs to meet its strategic objectives.
 Value Streams are the primary objectives in Portfolio, with which funding for the people and other resources
required to build the Solutions.
 Important key concepts used here are:
o Connection to the Enterprise,
o Program Portfolio Management,
o Managing the Flow of Portfolio Epics.

Value Stream Level

Roles/Teams Events Artifacts

* DevOps * Pre and Post PI(Program * Vision
Increment) Planning

* System Team * Solution Demos * Roadmap

* Release Management * Inspect and Adopt Workshop * Metrics

* Solution Management * Agile Release Train * Milestones

* UEX Architect * Releases

* Value Stream *Value Stream Epics

Engineer(RTE)

* Solution * Value Stream Kanban

Architect/Engineer

* Shared Services * Value Stream Backlog

* Customer * Non-Functional
Requirements

* Supplier * Weighted Shortest Job First

(WSJF)

* Value Stream PI Objectives

* Capability

* Enabler

* Solution Context

* Value Stream Coordination

* Economic Framework
 * Solution Intent

* MBSE

* Set Based

* Agile Architecture

 The Value Stream Level is optional in SAFe.

 Value Stream Level is new in SAFe 4.0.
 The Value Stream Level is intended/designed for Enterprises /builders/organization who are:

1. Large in size
2. Independent
3. Have complex solutions
4. Their solutions typically require multiple ARTs
5. They have Suppliers contribution.
6. They face the largest systems challenges
7. For cyber-physical systems
8. For software, hardware, electrical and electronics, optics, mechanics, fluidics and more.

 Building this kind of systems often takes hundreds, even thousands of practitioners, external and internal
suppliers.
 If the systems are mission crucial. Failure of the Solution, or even a subsystem, has unacceptable economic
and social consequences.
 If the Enterprises can be built with a few hundred practitioners, it may not need the constructs of this level. In
that case, they can use from the 'collapsed view' which is 3-level SAFe.
 Building value stream solutions in a Lean-Agile pattern requires additional artifacts, coordination, and
constructs. So this level contains an Economic Framework to provide financial boundaries for Value Stream
 It supports cadence and synchronization for multiple ARTs and Suppliers. It includes Pre-and Post-PI
Planning meetings and Solution Demo.
 It gives additional roles which are: Value Stream Engineer, Solution Architect/Engineering, and Solution
Management.

Summary:

 SAFe is an industry-proven, value-focused method for scaling Agile at the Enterprise level.
 It answers the questions like "How do we plan?", "How do we budget?", and "How do we become cross-
functional in architecture and DevOps?"
 SAFe helps large organization teams to meet an organization's strategic goals, not just individual project
goals.
 The framework offers the ability to maintain and create a centralized strategy to deliver value.
 The SAFe model has three/four levels that centralize the strategic themes of an organization.
 Centralized strategy, combined with the de-centralized agile development execution.