What is Agile?

Agile (Flexible Software Development Methodology) is an iterative and incremental approach to project management, primarily used in software development.

Its main principles are described in the Agile Manifesto for Software Development.

The core values of Agile:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
4. Responding to change over following a plan.

Key practices of Agile:

• Short development cycles (iterations/sprints): Usually 1-4 weeks.
• Frequent feedback: From the customer and the team.
• Flexible planning: The plan can change based on new requirements and feedback.
• Cross-functional self-organizing teams: The team contains all necessary competencies to complete the work.
• Focus on customer value: Prioritizing tasks based on their value.

Popular frameworks implementing Agile principles:

• Scrum
• Kanban
• XP (Extreme Programming)
• Lean Development

The role of QA in Agile is to ensure quality throughout the entire development lifecycle, not just during testing. This includes:

• Participating in planning and task estimation.
• Writing test cases and acceptance criteria.
• Conducting Exploratory Testing.
• Automating testing.
• Early defect detection.
• Collaborating with developers and the product owner.

In Agile, QA becomes part of the team and actively participates in all processes aimed at creating a quality product in a short timeframe.