Testing

Our approach to testing at ThoughtWorks differs from most, primarily in terms of timing and teamwork.

What we mean by teamwork is that testers work closely with developers and business analysts as part of multi-disciplined teams. ThoughtWorks projects foster a high level of collaboration between testers, developers, business analysts and the end users in a way that really drives the creation of well-designed, high-quality applications.

What we mean by "timing" is "all the time" -- testers are involved from the initial requirements gathering, through implementation to deployment. ThoughtWorks testers are always there to ask the awkward questions and try scenarios business analysts or developers may not dream up. We are involved when business analysts are capturing requirements in the form of user stories. These stories are converted into acceptance tests outlining specific scenarios. Testers ensure that tests are well-defined and complete, so that developers know when they have finished implementing the functionality defined in a story.

ThoughtWorks Testers help reduce the cost of changing software by maintaining a high level of test automation to make sure newly added functionality doesn't break features which we already know work. Test automation also reduces the level of effort and costs of intense testing efforts while driving system quality from the outset.

Regular, early feedback is a key principle that we apply to Quality Assurance on all ThoughtWorks' projects. We test integration and performance as early and often as possible instead of right at the end of the project.

At ThoughtWorks, testers aren't seen as 'gate-keepers' validating the quality of an application. Instead we are seen as providers of information about the health of a project -- information that is crucial to help the whole team focus on quality.

Andy Kemp, ThoughtWorks Quality Analyst (tester)

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