Exploration Through Example

Example-driven development, Agile testing, context-driven testing, Agile programming, Ruby, and other things of interest to Brian Marick

191.8

⇒

167.2

⇒

186.2

183.6

184.0

183.2

184.6

Mon, 03 Feb 2003

A successful workshop on test automation

Bret Pettichord and others organized a successful workshop on test automation in Austin in late January. I'd characterize it as one of series of good interactions between the XP folk and the context-driven testing folk. This blog is a direct result of that. There will be more exciting results later.

## Posted at 20:35 in category /agile [permalink] [top]

Context-driven testing and agile development

I'm a member of a school of testing called "context-driven". Part of what I want to do with this blog is talk through what context-driven testing is, what agile testing might be, and how and whether they intersect.

I've never been enormously fond of the context-driven manifesto. It somehow seems to miss the essence, and - worse - it's too easy for anyone to agree to, even people who seem to me entirely not of the school. (Note: I had a hand of some sort in writing that manifesto, so I'm not blaming anyone else for its failure to thrill me.)

In a talk I gave at SD East, I listed things about agility that resonate with me. Agility emphasizes:

• conversation and collaboration
• minimal documentation
• working software soon
• responding to change

Then I listed things about context-driven testing that distinguish it from conventional testing:

• projects are conversations about quality
• documents are treated as 'interesting fictions'
• a big emphasis on producing bug reports soon (bug reports against working software)
• responding to change

Pretty close parallels, it seems to me.

## Posted at 20:35 in category /context_driven_testing [permalink] [top]