Many organizations refer to their test teams and testers as QA departments and QA engineers. However, because errant systems can damage-even destroy-products and businesses, software quality must be the responsibility of the entire development team and every stakeholder. As the ones who find and report defects, and sometimes carry the “quality assurance” moniker, the test community has a unique opportunity to take up the cause of error prevention as a priority. Jeff Payne paints a picture of team and organization-wide quality assurance that is not the process-wonky, touchy, feely QA of the past that no one respects. Rather, it's tirelessly evaluating the software development artifacts beyond code; it’s measuring robustness, reliability, security, and other attributes that focus on product quality rather than process quality; it’s using risk management to drive business decisions around quality; and more.

Peer code review is one of the most effective ways to find defects-but is it agile? Because agile teams loathe heavy process, code review practices can easily fail. However, lightweight peer code review aligns well with the central tenets of agile-keeping feedback close to the point of creation, increasing team velocity by finding defects faster, and improving collective code ownership through frequent collaboration. Gregg Sporar shares recent research on code review practices and describes an agile code review approach-how much time to spend, which code to review, how much code to review at a time, how to set goals, the value of annotation, and more. After comparing four styles of code review-pair programming, over-the-shoulder, email, and tool-assisted-Gregg gives specific advice for creating review checklists and dealing with the social effects of code review in an agile environment.

Agile practitioners know that achieving high velocity in iterations requires a pinpoint focus on code quality. The death of many projects can be traced to an out-of-control defect queue being pushed uphill from one iteration into the next. Source Code Analysis has emerged as an effective technology that plays an integral role in achieving defect-free code within a contained cost and effort. However, the actual benefits achieved are dependent on when and how the technology is applied, and how broadly it is used by team members. Gwyn Fisher describes how developers can make automated code inspection and other related technologies such as regular refactoring and peer review part of their daily routine, resulting in more stable iterations, increased team velocity, and more predictable delivery.

Agile development presents unique challenges for testers and test teams. Working in short iterations, often with limited written requirements, agile development teams can leave traditional testers behind. Common testing-related activities-such as user acceptance testing, testing inter-product relationships, and installation testing-require different approaches to work within agile projects. Lisa Crispin presents seven key factors for testing success within agile projects – using a whole team approach, adopting an agile mindset, automating regression testing, collaborating with customers, providing and obtaining feedback, looking at the big picture, and building a foundation of core agile practices. Learn how to overcome cultural and organizational obstacles to successful testing and discover the critical factors for delivering maximum value to your business.