How do you equip your agile team to deliver high-quality software?

In my experience defining quality criteria in an agile team must be a collaborative standard that must be established by including all the stakeholders. Acceptance criteria are considered complete when the feature meets the intended functionality, and the non-functional requirements like the performance of the feature, usability, and security of the feature meet the agreed requirements. The different aspects can be measured by implementing different implementations like TDD, BDD, Test Coverage, Performance testing, security testing, Risk assessment

You want to write your Product Backlog Items (PBI) acceptance criteria in such a way that they are directly testable. By validating and aligning the needs and expectations behind the Product Backlog Item (PBI), the risk of misunderstandings between the Product Owner and the team can be minimized. Then if you add Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD), Test-Driven Development (TDD) or Exploratory Testing, you have aligned shared understanding and have a ready-to-go test scenario that can be quickly executed.

I think the best way is to make creating , communicating and delivering value to be the mission of the whole team. This will allow team to be valuable to business/ technical discussions. Also this will fill the everlasting gap between the business team and the tech team.

Many times people try to say "this is not my responsibility", before starting the development it is important to have everyone together and to write down the path to follow: - What would be the Story Structure - What would be the Story Size - When is a Story Done (number of bugs per Severity that allow closure) These are only few examples, however when the entire team sits together and agrees on the process to follow for a successful delivery then everyone feels responsible. There is nothing helping more the successful delivery then a team committed to acheave this goal.

Define clear goals and expectations: Start by establishing a shared understanding of what high-quality software means for your team and organization. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to guide your team's efforts.

I would call it scenario driven development where developers write granular level test conditions and success criteria(s) in simple terms and automate them using their tool of choice before proceeding with the implementation to fulfill the success criteria(s).This is a repetitive order which helps to refractor the scenarios to include both positive and negative ones. This will also help to have a better experience during pair coding and peer review phases.

Test-driven development (TDD) is a powerful technique where tests are created before code, promoting code that fulfills requirements. It leads to robust, maintainable code with valuable documentation, ensuring functionality and promoting a culture of quality and collaboration among developers, testers, and stakeholders

TDD should be done the BDD way that test the behaviors of the software, if the desired behaviors are implemented then the product should be as expected and beyond! This technique is called double loop TDD with that you get unit, integration and functional end-to-end testable specs.

n the realm of software crafting, adopting Test-Driven Development (TDD) is like an artist sketching before painting. Vision: Before code takes shape, tests outline its purpose. Precision: It ensures each function aligns with its intent, just as every brush stroke matters in a masterpiece. Feedback: Like immediate critique, tests give instant insights. Adaptability: With TDD, code morphs gracefully as requirements change. Quality: Assured functionality, akin to a well-composed symphony. Embracing TDD, I strive to create flawless code, where each line is premeditated art.

In my experience equipping an Agile team to deliver high-quality software is a multifaceted process. Having Clear vision and goal is must. User centric design. Test-driven development(TDD).CI/CD.Monitoring and feedback loop.And with Empathy and Human centric approach.

We must also consider the root difference between continuous integration and continuous delivery where continuous integration primarily focuses on resolving integration issues and conflicts which otherwise would eat away a large amount of developers' time to merge their branches this action mainly deal with development teams but for continuous delivery, it involves validating the integration of these branches using automated tests and automated build process with the intention of deploying the software to a production-like environment. Implement CI mostly deals with one team but for having a CD solution organizations often use DevOps practices where development and operations collaborate to streamline the deployment process.

As someone with a lot of experience leading initiatives in this space, this is the crucial aspect to implementing an agile environment. If developer cycles are wasted on “Friday night deployments” then you aren’t following agile properly. It’s agile-fall. By enabling developers to ship software “when it’s ready” with mechanisms to control rollout of features to users you adopt a change mindset and enablement that can’t be beat. Ensuring quality software with each deployment, in a standardized fashion with reproducible results, driving innovation as fast as can be delivered. So whether you’re doing GitHub Actions, or CircleCI, or Jenkins, or Azure DevOps, make sure your pipelines are setup, that the tracks are greased, and rocket fueled…

Foster a culture of collaboration and empowerment: Encourage open communication, trust, and mutual respect within the team. Empower team members to take ownership of their work and make decisions that contribute to delivering high-quality software.

In my opinion, CI/CD is one of the most important aspects of agile delivery. How quickly value can be delivered to customers, depends on this. Release Branch code merge, build installation, trigger automated tests, all these steps are integrated into one process and quickly get the result if nothing is broken. This quick step allows quick defect fixing and continuous value delivery on demand. This complete result-oriented CI/CD setup needs time and patience to implement. Many times, agile teams keep ignoring this part and add too much manual effort in this process which hampers the frequency of value-driven delivery. So team members should be empowered, given time, shown trust, and encouraged to keep working and improving this CI/CD setup.

From my experience as a Software Engineer, I believe that adopting practices like CI/CD can be advantageous since it helps to increase the quality of software developed by identifying errors early and fixing them before they accumulate, making the product resilient and stable. The entire team has visibility into the development process, which lowers risk because little code changes are less dangerous than huge batches of changes.

In my experience,there is no process or approach without a limitation just like the code review and pair programming process as well.The code reviews are definitely a good way to validate the code for adherence to coding standards,best practices,and potential issues. When this code review process is completely dependent on individuals it might be inclined toward subjectivity,and the effectiveness of peer reviews depends on the skills and experience of the reviewers and is time-consuming. To efficiently manage the code review process the process must be a blend of both automated code reviews and manual code reviews as automated code reviews can catch common issues quickly whereas peer reviewers can provide more in-depth analysis and insights

In my experience - Code review is an excellent opportunity for developers to work together (and lift one another up) and teach one another to write better code. Challenging one another during code review is a great method to learn and improve quality.

Code reviews are most productive when they're done on code that has already passed its static analysis criteria and its tests. That way the reviewers can spend their effort on aspects of the change that can't be analyzed better by a program. Automate everything and customize the static analysis tools to enforce your team's development policies in detail. Make it so easy to do the right thing that it never occurs to developers to do anything else.

Code reviews is must topic in quality. 1. Code practice through Code analysis tool(CAT) 2. Code Matrix 3. Manual Code review which can't be checked by CAT. Suggest Pair programming for complex component/piece.

Code reviews are essential for quality. However, the code review process should as well be established with quality. Prepare guidelines, add a checklist to follow for each code review. Work with the team, if required, to set the common goal and approach for code reviews. It is also a useful practice to have same code reviewed by more senior and more junior developers as a way of sharing experience.

As someone with experience in working on many Agile projects,most Agile teams do not consider testing as a separate effort in Agile development this is absolutely true for functional testing but when it comes to non-functional testing like security testing,performance testing, recovery testing teams consider that it is not cost-effective to have people assigned to teams until and unless the teams are dealing with larger and complex projects that might be utilizing the testers to their full potential.So in general organizations have centralized teams for performance and security testing that deal with handling requests from different agile teams and deliver based on their own priorities which might be differing from that of the agile teams.

Test case is very important and mapped with Requirement. What is goal of Test case ? Write Automated Test (Unit/Integration Test) for Test case. Upfront investment of time but it pay-back in Product based software.

One major advantage of Agile Testing is that it is?incorporated into every stage of the development process, allowing for constant feedback and improvement. It also?prioritizes testing of important functions and highly complicated areas.?Delivering functional software incrementally in quick cycles is made possible by continuous testing on each build. Software teams can adjust to changing requirements and priorities by utilizing continuous testing.?Teams can experiment more and pick up new skills more quickly .

Implement Agile practices: Adopt agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban, which provide frameworks for effective teamwork and continuous improvement. Embrace practices like iterative development, regular retrospectives, and cross-functional collaboration

n the intricate dance of software development, Agile Testing Techniques are the choreographers ensuring every step is precise and graceful. Rhythm: Agile testing keeps pace with development, akin to dancers moving in sync with the music. Adaptability: It molds to changes, much like a river navigating its terrain. Feedback: Offering timely reflections, as mirrors do for dancers refining their posture. Collaboration: Fostering unity between developers and testers, like a duet perfected through practice. Precision: Ensuring every feature performs, as every dance move must resonate with the audience. By employing Agile Testing, I endeavor to create software that moves seamlessly, capturing both function and finesse.

Fostering a quality culture is the most important thing you can do to build/deliver quality and I'm glad it's listed here, albeit late. The rest of the items listed are all great only if you have the right people doing them. To have the right people doing them, they need to believe in quality and what it means to deliver it. Without that belief and culture, the rest of these could easily fall flat and I've seen many examples in each of those where it did. With the right culture, it's much easier to implement quality initiatives, measurements, standards, practices, processes and tools.

Fostering a quality culture is paramount. It's a shared commitment where values, behaviors, and practices align toward excellence. Emphasizing customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, and employee engagement cultivates a culture that values reliability and innovation. Open communication, leadership support, and recognition of quality efforts solidify this culture. It's an investment that reaps benefits through heightened product reliability, customer loyalty, and organizational success.

In my experience the best solutions I’ve delivered were on teams that shared the common understanding of the problem the software was supposed to address. Explicitly captured and shared answer to the “WHY are we building this?” sets the tone for the whole development process. Knowing the why allows teams to act more independently and come up with more creative solutions. At a tactical level this process can be facilitated with teams by using things like Sprint Goals and the Product Canvas. Roman Pichler has written a lot about this in his books and blog.

In the intricate tapestry of software development, fostering a quality culture is like nurturing a lush garden. Nourishment: Just as plants need consistent care, a quality culture thrives on regular training and knowledge. Rooted Values: Integrity and excellence form the bedrock, much like a garden's fertile soil. Collaboration: Teams converge, akin to an ecosystem where every flora and fauna play their part. Feedback: Like nature's cycles, regular retrospectives help refine and adapt. Growth: A commitment to excellence ensures continuous evolution, as a garden grows with seasons. By nurturing this quality culture, I aim to craft an environment where excellence is not just sought, but lived.

Probably the biggest hurdle for leaders here is defining what they mean by "quality". Without a concrete idea of what quality means and to whom, no amount of communication and goal setting will help. Your quality strategy should be based on concrete definitions and examples, not just the word "quality".

Set clear expectations. Make sure that everyone on the team understands the standards for high quality software. This includes the definition of done, the acceptance criteria for user stories, and the quality assurance process. Provide the right tools and resources. Your team needs to have the right tools and resources to be able to deliver high quality software. This includes access to code reviews, automated testing, and continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) tools. Create a culture of quality. This means creating an environment where everyone is focused on delivering high quality software. Celebrate successes. When your team delivers high quality software, be sure to celebrate their successes.

Collaboration between teams is key. Agile succeeds when Product, Design, Engineering, and Testing work in harmony towards the same goal. Information flows freely across teams, keeping everyone aligned towards the same goal. In my experience, this symbiotic relationship has been the deciding factor in a healthy Agile implementation. Also worth calling out is that Agile, more than being a methodology, is ultimately a mindset that requires being receptive to changes and reacting to new knowledge. A Build-Measure-Learn-Iterate framework is instrumental in producing quality software incrementally without being caught up in long development cycles. Failing fast is often better than striving for perfection, at least for non-critical software.

Shift left. Way left. Code reviews are way too late in the process to conduct reviews. Discuss ideas and get the design right *before* anyone writes the code. Then, document and review the design document until everyone understand it and commits to building it. Great code is no good if it’s implementing the wrong design. The right design will allow you to refine your code.

Coaching is a great method to help the team upskill themselves which in turn lead to quality deliverables. Coaching can be a regular activity for the team at periodic intervals. This would help the team to grasp maybe new techniques or technologies which can contribute to the increased quality of work.

Documentation Putting all the work done as a document helps for delivering quality product for a customer: Test cases, codes and code reviews, strategic plans for software, log files.