QASource Blog

An established software testing company with a track record of successful engagements and market-leading clients offers more than a simple QA team -- it provides support from the entire organization. This includes an expansive team of engineers with years of combined testing experience, domain experts that can be called on to your project to advise test engineers and facilities that support manual and automated testing across all major devices and operating systems.

As companies work to release new features and focus on marketing strategy, QA testing might fall a few spots on the priority list. But overlooking QA can negatively affect the product in many ways. Post-release bugs, security vulnerabilities and poor UX are just several consequences of bad testing. A consistently poor product can lead to lost customers, bad PR and a drop in revenue.

The Agile method is a development methodology that depends on fast iteration and close collaboration among dev and QA teams. Historically, people have viewed outsourced QA as incompatible with Agile, emphasizing the misconception that teams need to be under the same roof in order to effectively communicate and reach alignment on project requirements. This view is drawn straight from the Agile manifesto: “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is a face-to-face conversation.” But with advances in technology come great shifts in thinking, and people are realizing that dev and QA need not be housed in the same building — much less the same country or continent.

Product companies have it hard these days. From established organizations to scrappy startups, everyone’s focused on trimming the fat and running lean. This puts the onus on Dev and QA managers to deliver innovative, high-quality products using a constricted budget and limited resources. In turn, today’s recruiting process is about getting a lot of bang for a little buck.

It’s no secret that there is a high turnover rate in the tech industry — and that this high attrition occurs in tech companies all over the world. Churn has the potential to result in lower quality products, especially if the turnover occurs in a QA team. Check out QASource’s latest infographic to find out why a high engineer retention rate is critical for effective and beneficial QA services.

Recently, QASource, in conjunction with Sauce Labs, presented "Measuring Your Way to Successful Automation," a webinar during which QASource took a poll of its attendees about their automation metrics. Using the results of this poll, QASource put together an infographic that highlights the many ways metrics can benefit QA teams and testing projects.

Effective QA is not made or broken by any one thing. Rather, it’s a combination of all the right stuff: knowledge transfer, skilled engineers, great team culture, and the appropriate testing methodologies. When all of the checkboxes are marked, the result is a successful project and a stronger product that’s ready for market.

When your QA team is in-house, you’ve got several things going for you. First, the team is already familiar with the product and the company culture. Second, communication between the dev and QA teams is simple -- a test engineer just walks down the hall to find a developer, and vice versa. Though these are undeniably valuable benefits of having QA under the same roof as dev, experienced testing partners help bridge the gap between onsite and outsourced teams with a project kick-off meeting and several important QA processes.

When it comes to selecting a dedicated QA partner the choices are plentiful. But selecting the partner that will be a perfect fit for your company, product and existing team takes research and deliberation. The right partner is responsible for much more than providing high-quality testing -- they create a sustainable testing infrastructure, learn the product as well (or better!) than the developers and serve as a true extension of your onsite team.