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26Oct, 2016

Software Testing – a good candidate for shared services

In any organization while some services are provided vertically, some are provided in a shared model horizontally to make the most of the team’s capabilities, time thereby further enhancing the overall efficiency and productivity besides the reach and scale achieved. Specific to software QA and testing, certain attributes, especially the non-functional ones such as performance testing, security testing, test automation overall expertise around tools and frameworks, accessibility and usability testing have traditionally been good candidates for shared services. In certain teams, we have also been seeing the overall software testing itself including the functional aspects being extended as a shared service. This model has its pros and cons. Pros are primarily around a common/centralized test process, visibility for quality across teams, standardized test KRAs and metrics, easier adoption for new tools and technologies, good and in-depth knowledge of products across teams, better integration scenarios, better utilization of testers etc. On the flip side, the cons are around, packed and sometimes conflicting schedules, lack of tester availability at certain crucial times, compromised quality across products for the sake of accommodating all of them, lack of comparative processes between teams that can encourage a healthy competition etc. These are again not pros and cons that will apply as is to all teams. What is a con to one may actually be a pro to another based on how the team is structured and what its requirements are. Even if they are not a shared service in the truest model, a test center of excellence can be setup to cross share knowledge, resources and testers, tools etc. as warranted.

25May, 2016

Positioning Software Testing as a Service

When I search online for software testing services, I get a bunch of results showing companies that provide software testing as a service and rightly so. However, I have a slightly different take on this, coming in with a perspective that software testing should be viewed as a service not just in the context of such service providers but also within product companies. Independent testing that was held high in the last decade is gradually losing its positioning in the current times, not because of the downhill trend in software testing, but primarily because of the increasing need for collaboration between software testers and the rest of the product disciplines. In such scenarios, one fear the software testing industry faces is whether independent testing is dying – are we diluting the focus of this discipline – should we resurrect it? While this is an individual call each organization should take depending on how mature the quality effort is at their end, one broader solution that would help is to view software testing as a service whether you are a product or a services company. And when that mind-set is inculcated a lot of benefits accrue – whether this be in a service like delivery model which is measurable and objective, a collaborative yet consciously distinctive quality effort, a disciplined approach to quality, a respected career for software testers etc. In the current challenging times for this profession such a services like implementation model will certainly help bring in a rejuvenated focus.