...no testing deadlines…the freedom to test as long as I want.

Back in the dark ages, with Scrum, all the sprint Features had to be tested by the end of the iteration.  Since programming generally continued until that last minute (we couldn’t help ourselves), testers were sometimes forced to cut corners.  Even in cases where the whole team (e.g., programmers, BAs) jumped in to help test, there was still a tendency to skimp on testing that would otherwise be performed.  The team wants to be successful.  Success is more easily measured by delivered Features than Feature quality.  That’s the downside of deadlines.

With Kanban, there are no deadlines…you heard me!  Testers take as long as they need.  If the estimates are way off, it doesn’t leave gaps or crunches in iterations.  There are no iterations!  Warning: I fear unskilled testers may actually have a difficult time with this freedom.  Most testers are used to being told how much time they have (i.e., “The Time’s Up! Heuristic”).  So with Kanban, other Stopping Heuristics may become more important.