Exploring human factors of the agile software tester

Although extensive research has been conducted on the characteristics of the agile developer, little attention has been given to the features of the software-testing role. This paper explores the human factors of the software testers working in agile projects through a qualitative study focusing on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSoftware quality journal Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 455 - 481
Main Authors Stray, Viktoria, Florea, Raluca, Paruch, Lucas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.06.2022
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Case studies
Communication
Communication skills
Compilers
Computer Science
Crystallization
Customer feedback
Data Structures and Information Theory
Human factors
Interpreters
Operating Systems
Programming Languages
Soft skills
Software
Software Engineering/Programming and Operating Systems
Software quality
Teams
Usability testing
Software testing
Agile tester
Soft skills
Human traits
Agile software development
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Summary:Although extensive research has been conducted on the characteristics of the agile developer, little attention has been given to the features of the software-testing role. This paper explores the human factors of the software testers working in agile projects through a qualitative study focusing on how these factors are perceived. We interviewed 22 agile software practitioners working in three international companies: 14 testers, five developers, and three designers. Additionally, we observed 11 meetings and daily work of 13 participants in one of the companies. Our findings show that the views on the human factors shaping the agile software tester’s role were crystallized into seven traits, which the agile team members saw as central for the software-testing role: the ability to see the whole picture, good communication skills, detail-orientation, structuredness, creativeness, curiosity, and adaptability. The testers spent half their day communicating and learned how to mitigate the fact that they had to bring bad news to other project members. They also facilitated communication between the business side and development. Based on our results, we propose the seven traits as dimensions to consider for organizations recruiting agile software testers, as well as a reference for IT and non-IT professionals considering a software-testing career.
ISSN:0963-9314
1573-1367
DOI:10.1007/s11219-021-09561-2