Bob Van De BurgtDirector Professional Testing B.V. @Provincie Zuid-Holland

TMMi in an Agile Context

The mistaken belief is that the TMMi and Agile approaches are at odds. Agile approaches and TMMi can not only co-exist, but when successfully integrated will bring substantial benefits. There is also a challenge of looking at testing differently, being fully integrated within Agile development and what that means in the context of a “test” improvement programme. Literature and presentations on testing in Agile projects tend to focus on unit testing, test automation and exploratory testing, but of course there is more! Using the TMMi model in an Agile context provides reminders of critical testing practices that are often “forgotten”. The challenge is to apply lean principles to empower Agile practices and facilitate TMMi practices. Used appropriately, TMMi can help you locate the specific testing areas where change can provide value given the business objectives. This is true regardless of the lifecycle model that is being applied. When using TMMi don’t be too prescriptive, this was not how TMMi is intended in the first place. Always interpret the TMMi goals and practices to the context of your situation.
In this presentation the TMMi level 2 process areas Test Policy and Strategy and Test Planning will be used as an example to show how TMMi is also applicable in an Agile context.

Bob van de Burgt is test advisor at Professional Testing bv. He contributed to the development of the testing method TestFrame® and the test management approach of LogicaCMG for which he also was co-author of the published books. Bob has given many testing courses (including ISTQB Advanced and Expert level) and is a frequent speaker at (inter)national congresses. He was member of the board of the Dutch SIGIST TestNet for 11 years of which 6 year as chairman. Bob was Programme Chair of EuroSTAR 2008 in The Hague and won the European Testing Excellence Award in 2012. Since 2018 he is member of the TMMi Management Executive.