What happens when you can’t accurately measure the cost, effectiveness, and progress of a software testing project? A lot of less-than-ideal things. Projects can balloon in cost, creep in scope, fall in quality, or run on for what seems like forever. Without defined metrics attached to each QA project, they can get out of control -- and this scenario is a nightmare for both the product company and their team and the testing provider and their engineers.
Many automated test scripts fail because of flaky tests, false positives or poor code. As a result, many companies are consistently updating their test scripts and having difficulty automating new features.
QASource sponsors the East Bay Agilistry & QA Meetup Group. The goal of the meetup group is to create a community where software engineers and developers can meet once a month to learn new skills, build on current skill sets as well as network with other business professionals.
The future of your product is in the hands of many people: your engineers, your business analysts, and your senior leaders. But it’s also in the hands of another group of people that may be overlooked. Who are those people? Your QA team! QA engineers are tasked with ensuring the quality of the product. They’re the last line of defense between the bugs that can run your product (and business reputation) into the ground and your users.
Short answer: yes, definitely. The Agile method is quickly becoming the preferred way of working at today’s most successful product companies. Agile teams are, by their nature, cross-functional. They’re composed of technical team members, such as developers, as well as non-technical folks, such as business analysts. Together, these teams have the combined knowledge and skill required to produce an exceptional product. They share their achievements and progress with each other, anticipate any potential roadblocks, and plan accordingly to help deliver a high-quality product.
One of the key challenges of working with an outsourced QA partner is aligning a new, offshore team with your product, procedures, and larger business objectives. Without the proper transfer of knowledge from the customer to the offshore team, engineers will be testing blindly. This leads to process slow-downs, inflated project budgets, and even lost contracts.
Almost 10 years have passed since the release of the first iPhone. Since that release, the mobile space has taken massive leaps and bounds. For many users, the phone is the end-all, be-all of connectivity and online experience -- they use it for everything, and then some. This dependency is great news for product companies, especially those who focus primarily on mobile applications.
Though most product companies are vigilant in protecting themselves and their product from security vulnerabilities, they often cut corners when it comes to other concerns, such as load testing, UI testing, and API testing. The consequences of this type of corner-cutting are not as drastic as the PR fallout that follows massive cyberattacks, but they are dangerous to company image nonetheless.
