Agile Verification and Validation
Objective: Ongoing verification and validation of openETCS development artifacts are performed within the framework of openETCS scrum process. This page describes the interface of agile verification and validation to the top level customer as well as the scrum process within the verification and validation itself.
Within the agile scrum process of openETCS different backlogs are used to synchronise the top level project goals with the tasks performed within the project:
- Each backlog itself consists of items which are represented within the github issue tracker.
- For each backlog a Product Owner is assigned to coordinate and prioritize the items.
- Each Story Point (SP) is estimated to be worth one person day.
The Product Backlog consists of top level Features by which the product is described.
- Each Feature itself is estimated by the product owner on how many Story Points this Feature is worth.
- A Feature itself is divided into Feature Parts.
- A Feature Part is related directly to a working package and the repository the work is documented in.
- Each Feature Part itself is estimated and prioritized by the product owner on how many Story Points this Feature Part is worth. By estimating the feature the feature becomes accepted on product Level. The Product Backlog is maintained during a regular meeting.
Transferring the Features from the Product Backlog to the Verification and Validation Sprint Backlog
During regular grooming sessions the scrum team extracts the items with highest priority out of the Product Backlog and refines them to issues within the repository mentioned within the Feature Part. On these issues Project Poker is performed on and by this Story Points are assigned. The decision on which items enter the Sprint Backlog is based on the maximum benefit analysis taking into account the priority as well as the story points.
The Sprint Backlog consists of issues which are processed during the sprint. During the sprint the success is tracked against the Sprint Backlog. The Story Points are earned once the complete result of what has been groomed is uploaded to the github.