One of the characteristics of agile teams is that they test – early, often and continuously. Most agile teams perform extensive unit testing and collaborate with users on creating automated acceptance tests. Agile teams that practice test-first development tend to write automated unit tests before writing the code those tests will exercise.
Quality in agile is the responsibility of the entire team. Agile developers hold themselves accountable for the quality of the code, and therefore view testing as a core part of software development, not a separate activity to be performed after implementation is completed. However, things have not all been smooth with regard to accepting testers as a valuable part of the agile team. Earlier, some agile practitioners suggested that early unit testing and automated customer-driven acceptance testing reduced the need for independent testers. Things have however changed over time. Testers today are viewed as a definite value-addition to the agile team. Experience shows that professional and skilled testers can detect useful defects that do not show up during the developer tests or the automated tests.
Quality in agile is the responsibility of the entire team. Agile developers hold themselves accountable for the quality of the code, and therefore view testing as a core part of software development, not a separate activity to be performed after implementation is completed. However, things have not all been smooth with regard to accepting testers as a valuable part of the agile team. Earlier, some agile practitioners suggested that early unit testing and automated customer-driven acceptance testing reduced the need for independent testers. Things have however changed over time. Testers today are viewed as a definite value-addition to the agile team. Experience shows that professional and skilled testers can detect useful defects that do not show up during the developer tests or the automated tests.
