In the quest for writing good code and delivering the right thing to customers, developers have several challenges. But most of them can be boiled down to two main problems: discovering the real scope, and how to do the work. Interestingly, they’re very similar to the problems faced by testers and others in non-dev roles.

Agile projects focus on very lightweight, simple requirements embodied in user stories. However, there are some problems with relying solely on user stories. They often don't contain enough accuracy for development, testing, or industry regulations. There's a better way to write detailed requirements that are still agile.

Requirements only go so far in identifying areas to test. Sometimes testers are given no information at all, leaving it up to them to determine what to test. Don’t accept the need to indiscriminately test with no clear understanding. Your testing should be targeted, and these techniques will help focus your test effort.