Agile Testing
Sprint
A fixed-length iteration (usually 2 weeks) in Scrum where the team completes a set of planned work.
Full definition
A sprint is a time-boxed iteration in Scrum, typically 1-4 weeks (most commonly 2 weeks). During a sprint, the team completes a committed set of work items from the sprint backlog.
Sprint structure:
- Sprint Planning (start): Select work, define sprint goal
- Daily Standup (daily): 15-minute sync
- Development + Testing (throughout): Build and test features
- Sprint Review (end): Demo completed work
- Sprint Retrospective (end): Improve the process
QA during a sprint:
- Sprint Planning: Help estimate testing effort, identify risks
- During sprint: Test stories as they're completed (not at the end!)
- Sprint Review: Demo tested features, share quality metrics
- Retrospective: Suggest testing process improvements
Key principle: Testing should happen throughout the sprint, not pile up at the end. If developers finish coding on day 9 of a 10-day sprint, there's no time for quality testing.