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Testers Should Absolutely Be Part of the Scrum Teams
As a pragmatist, one thing that bothers me in movies is when characters withhold critical information from each other. Don’t get me started on all the secret plans that did and didn’t work in The Last Jedi. On the other hand, I realize that this is done by the writer to build drama and add tension to the story. It’s often a necessary evil to advance the plot. Well, friends, life is not a movie. Adding hurdles to communication rarely benefits anyone in a business setting and this is why I strongly believe testers should be members of scrum teams.
For those of us that have worked on QA teams, it can feel like the department exists on an island. We’re operating very separately from the developers and by the time the software falls into our hands, we no longer have a feel for how the product was intended to work. This of course is a major communication breakdown that in my opinion exists because of unnecessary walls between the departments and it makes our job harder. If you are one of the lucky ones working at Spotify for example and you have been embedded with the scrum teams, I’m sure you will agree that the extra context and knowledge of projects makes you more efficient.
Today I am making a humble plea to include testers in your scrum teams. Let’s tear down the needless walls between QA pros and software developers. By maintaining an open line of communication we’ll all be much better off. A third-act plot twist may be exciting in a crime thriller but in the world of tech, we’ll take all the information we can get. Check out my video below where I make the rest of my case.
Check back next week for episode eight where I will argue that 100% test automation should not necessarily be your goal.
