What does a QA engineer do in an Agile Scrum team?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Joins refinement and planning to clarify acceptance criteria
- Tests stories during the sprint, not only at the end
- Works closely with developers and pairs on testing
- Maintains regression and automation
- Helps define the definition of done
Model answer
In Scrum, QA is part of the team from the start, not a separate phase at the end. In backlog refinement I ask questions and help write clear acceptance criteria, including edge cases, so developers know what done looks like. During the sprint I prepare test cases and data while developers code, then test each story as soon as it is ready instead of waiting for the last two days. I pair with developers to test early builds and review unit test coverage. I keep the regression suite and automation updated so we can release often with confidence. In the daily standup I raise blockers like a broken test environment. I also help define the definition of done, for example that a story is not done until it is tested, its bugs are fixed and automated checks pass.
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More easy QA Engineer questions
- How would you test a login page?
- What is the Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) and how does it fit with the SDLC?
- How do you decide which test cases go into a regression suite?
- Explain positive and negative testing with an example.
- Walk me through the life cycle of a defect, from the moment you find it until it is closed.
- What is the difference between a test scenario and a test case? Give an example of each.
- How would you test a file upload feature that accepts PDF documents up to 10 MB?
- Explain boundary value analysis and equivalence partitioning, and show how you would use them together on a field.
- How do you plan and run an exploratory testing session, and how do you report what you found?