How to voice up as an Agile Tester

Agile methodology has changed how a team works together and how the work is done, to deliver the product. In an Agile environment, Testers play an equally important role as other team members and in this article, I have highlighted how a Tester can perform with Agility.

In my early days of career, I have wondered if I can really speak or if people would really consider if a tester suggests something ! Because even now in most of the places, testers are not asked for their opinions or missed to be invited in meetings. I have learnt lessons from my mistakes and have realised, if I want myself to be heard, I have to speak with confidence and ask questions with my chin up ! Below are some ideas where testers can get visibility in a team and these are from my own experiences straight from oven to plate ! :-)

•  An Agile Tester has to prepare the test cases and test data while the developers are working on the feature. This will give adequate time to test the features as and when they are developed.
• When the acceptance criteria seems ambiguous or there are any other issues in understanding the feature, Business Analysts and Developers can be involved in a quick catch up (Three Amigos). Business Analysts have a clear idea of the requirements that have been fed through and Developers can give a preview of what they been developed so far. Looking at a feature through the eyes of a Business Analyst and Developer will take the testers to a higher level of maturity. This will pave way to improve the quality of the process itself before that of the product !
• During Retrospective meetings, One can confidently raise issues publicly, for example, speak about how a certain process impacts quality to a greater extent to the Product Owner, Developers, Business Analysts and Scrum Master. I have volunteered to run Retrospectives and it was a great experience get everyone involved in the meeting by asking their opinions. The most important part of Retrospectives is the action points we carry away from it and have them as our to-dos for the upcoming sprint. Stop, Look Back, Learn, Move Forward - is all what it is about :-)
• Agile Testers play a very important role in Backlog Refinements. I would debate this is a very important meeting where a tester has to be, when some teams think they need not be involved. Refinements are the perfect situations where, Quality Engineers can question about the testability of a specific feature.  If a feature that's going to be developed, cannot be tested effectively, Quality is compromised. When an item from the backlog is chosen into the next sprint, the product might have evolved where in such situations, testers can make the Product Owners and BAs aware that acceptance criteria need a refresh.
• Daily Scrums are the perfect pitch to let team be aware of any impediments that popped up while doing the tasks. Scrum Master will facilitate any meetings required to clear things up.

There are many other opportunities in an Agile space for testers to bring up their voices for Quality. Everything begins with..... as simple as unmuting your mic !