Who "owns" quality in Agile Teams?

Such a simple question, for which the more traditional answer is "the testers". I mean, they sit at the end of the process, and the whole purpose of their existence is to catch issues before they get deployed.

Right?

Well, not exactly.

Yes, your testers can and should be acting as a gatekeeper. But how do they know what to test? Is it made up on the fly?

Ideally, the answer to the last question is a big old "No!". Yes, exploratory testing has its place and can be very valuable, but the best way to ensure quality is with a decent set of Acceptance Criteria.

So, who owns them? The obvious answer is most likely the business analyst or product owner. They speak to the business/stakeholders and elicit the requirements. Surely they are the owners of quality?

But what about the developers, those foot soldiers of coding? What happens when they get their order (to continue the analogy) and they can't be done? What if there are assumptions that are false? Are they to throw themselves at the cannons like the Light Brigade?

It would be unfair if they didn't have a voice.

This is why a good refinement session is absolutely key. This is a chance for everyone's voice to be heard. The initial idea is presented, and then the team gets to work on it.

The testers do their analysis, looking at all the good stuff they cut their teeth on:

• Boundary Value Analysis

• Equivalence Partitioning

• Decision Tree Coverage

The developers look for any holes and try to prevent issues that may crop up by asking questions early.

If there are too many questions, back it goes to the business to get them answered.

So, in summary, quality is owned by everyone in the team.

And on a secondary note, make sure you engage in your refinement sessions. It will make your life easier!