Development and Testing Teams’ Collaboration in Agile Methodologies

Development and Testing teams are more or less considered to be two sides of the same coin. Although they may be working on the same project, due to the differences in the nature of their jobs, they often tend to disagree with each other, especially regarding scope of the patch.

If the teams are working on the project according to the traditional waterfall model, then, during the development and testing phases, the work can be described as;
“Playing a game where the developers throw their work over the wall on the other side to react and on the other side, the testing team receives unknown items and processes it independently and throws the feedback back over the wall again”

This game continues until one of the teams gives up or is made to surrender. The end result is delayed release or release with “known” bugs.

Agile puts emphasis on the development and testing teams to work more closely and suggests that their coordination should be such that their roles seem to overlap. Agile is more inclined towards generalists rather than specialists and this causes professionals to think beyond their primary role and break down the walls.

Extreme Programming (XP) and Test Driven Development (TDD) are Agile methodologies which focus on both teams working together right from the beginning and helps resources understand the other side of story. This psychology not only helps professionals in enhancing their skill sets but also improves the overall process and as a result saves time as well.