Agile Testing – The embedded tester

It's the obvious first step towards agile customer testing – bring the testers into the team.

There is certainly a risk that a tester will lose their objectivity when they become part of the development team. But would a good tester allow this to happen? Would an alert agile coach allow this to happen? Surely not.

Being an embedded tester means changing how you work. Instead of merely diagnosing bugs after they've become chronic, you can help to prevent bugs from infecting the product in the first place.

An agile tester doesn't have to be the person who just ticks off features against a list of requirements. They can, and should be much more than this. Working in the team the tester can take a much more active role in improving the product and influencing the development process. They can help build quality into the product rather than trying to test quality into it.

Not all testers find it easy, or are prepared to adapt to this change in approach. But it's not unreasonable to demand a degree of personal agility of your agile testers.

Success has it's foundation in people. So if you're serious about agile customer testing, make sure you have the right testers in the right place. In the team.