Being Agile: Eleven Breakthrough Techniques to Keep You from “Waterfalling Backward”

Working Software Extends Test Suites

You could argue that an adequate test suite should satisfy quality validation required for shippable software. However, real users have varied usage patterns and often find alternative ways of doing work. For example, every user station might have a slightly different configuration and different versions of software and hardware. These are subtle variations that typical testing suites are not likely to cover. When new usage patterns uncover problems with the code, these new patterns need to be factored into the test strategy.

Having working software enables the team to discover new usage patterns that may not have otherwise surfaced if its customers were unable to use the product. And the constant validation ...