More than XP. More than one day.

Synopsis:
How we developed a suite of acceptance tests that draws together the components built by five agile development teams into a cohesive product. Not only does it constantly test the individual components and the system integration, it also provides a living document of system behaviour.

This is our experience with various tools and methods that lead to an approach that provides our developers with tests to drive development, our customers with live documentation, our managers with reports and our organization with high quality software.

We are part of a test team working on a project with seven business analysts and around thirty developers.

Where we started:
When we began, a component had already been developed but there were no automated acceptance tests. The stories and acceptance criteria were recorded on story cards.

Where we wanted to be:
We wanted to create a suite of automated acceptance tests that would also be a living documentation of the system. A living document reflects, at any time, the live system behaviour.

Where we are now:
For each story, we develop component and system tests that become part of the build. As the product matures and the behaviour changes, the tests fail and will need to be updated. As the tests are also documentation, this will result in the documentation reflecting the new system behaviour. This gives us both a regression suite and our desired living document.

What we have learned:
Approaches and tools
The human factor

Where we are going:
We will discuss how we could do this better.