Agile vs Scrum

Agile Principles:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools: Agile emphasizes the importance of collaboration and communication among team members over relying solely on tools or processes.

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2. Working software over comprehensive documentation: Agile teams prioritize delivering functional software to customers. While documentation is essential, working software takes precedence.

3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation: Agile teams work closely with stakeholders and customers, adapting to changing requirements based on continuous feedback.

4. Responding to change over following a plan: Agile embraces change. Teams are encouraged to respond to changing requirements even late in the development process.

Benefits of Agile in SQA Automation:

1. Quick Feedback Loops: Agile teams often work in short iterations (sprints), allowing QA engineers to receive immediate feedback on their automation efforts, leading to faster bug identification and resolution.

2. Continuous Integration (CI): Agile teams frequently integrate their code changes. Automated tests in CI pipelines ensure that changes don’t break existing functionality, maintaining the product's stability.

3. Prioritization of User Stories: QA automation can be aligned with user stories, ensuring that critical functionality is always thoroughly tested, meeting customer requirements.

4. Enhanced Collaboration: Agile emphasizes collaboration between team members. QA engineers collaborate closely with developers and stakeholders, ensuring a shared understanding of the application’s behavior.

### Scrum Framework:

Roles:

1. Product Owner: Represents the customer and defines product features.

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2. Scrum Master: Facilitates Scrum processes, removes obstacles, and ensures the team follows Agile principles.

3. Development Team: Cross-functional team members responsible for delivering potentially shippable increments of product during each sprint.

Events:

1. Sprint: A time-boxed iteration, usually 2-4 weeks long, where a potentially shippable product increment is developed and tested.

2. Sprint Planning: At the beginning of each sprint, the team plans the work to be accomplished during the sprint.

3. Daily Standup: A short daily meeting where team members share progress, plans, and challenges.

4. Sprint Review: Held at the end of the sprint, the team demonstrates what they built and receives feedback.

5. Sprint Retrospective: A meeting held after the sprint review where the team discusses what went well and what could be improved.

Scrum Artifacts:

1. Product Backlog: A prioritized list of features and bug fixes maintained by the Product Owner.

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2. Sprint Backlog: A subset of the product backlog, containing tasks to be completed during the sprint.

3. Increment: The sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during a sprint.

Benefits of Scrum in SQA Automation:

1. Regular Inspection: Through Sprint Reviews and Retrospectives, the team regularly inspects the automation progress, making continuous improvements.

2. Clear Priorities: The Product Backlog provides clear priorities for QA engineers, ensuring they focus on high-value features first.

3. Adaptability: If requirements change, the Scrum framework allows the team to adapt quickly, ensuring automation efforts align with the most current needs.

4. Team Collaboration: Scrum ceremonies facilitate collaboration, allowing QA engineers to work closely with developers and other team members.

In an Agile and Scrum environment, SQA Automation plays a vital role in ensuring the software's quality while adapting to changing requirements and delivering value to customers in each sprint.

by Dev Yaqoot