What are the key challenges of software testing and QA you have ever faced? Answers to this question may differ depending on the previous experience of cooperation with Software Testing Companies or running testing in-house, business goals and objectives, your expectations and requirements.
However, we’ve decided to run a research for an in-depth problem study, get an outside perspective, and outline how to overcome these challenges.
So, the question is known. As an answer, the following variants were offered:
Lack of testing resources
Falling behind schedule
Major bugs in production
Negative customer feedback.
The biggest part of the votes was for the lack of testing resources and major bugs in production, taking 60% and 40% correspondingly.
Knowing the challenges, let’s try to find the most optimal solutions.
Lack of testing resources
This is probably the most common problem any business has faced, regardless of whether it was an in-house shortage or a long and energy-sapping search of a QA vendor. How to act?
The first variant is to hire specialists in-house. It’s a time and money-consuming process. If you already have a set QA team able to guide a newly joined specialist, it will considerably speed up the task. But what if the situation is exactly the opposite, and you are building a QA department from scratch? You will for sure encounter administrative, office space, and paychecks issues. Besides, who will guarantee that the QA engineer will know what to do, how to do it, and when?
Here, the second variant will come to the rescue. Partnering up with a software testing and QA team, you get the right QA expertise for your project, can extend in-house QA, automate where it is needed, set up full-fledged QA processes, and, you may be surprised, but save time and money in the long run.
No babysitting, clear understanding of the testing process because of regular updates, and flexibility in terms of team growth (upsize) or downsize. Sounds almost perfect. But here is another fear, challenge, or hesitation. Feel free to choose how to call it. This is the task of finding a superb, experienced, and reliable QA company.
To dispel the doubts, ask for a trial task or period with some special conditions to see the team in action.
This is the approach we actively use in our work.
Ask for some sample test documentation (checklists, bug reports), domain expertise, feedback from previous clients (Hint: or check out reviews yourself on listing platforms like Clutch or GoodFirms).
Major bugs in production
Did you know that the promise of 100% bug-free software is not actually true? Maybe this is the secret we’d better keep quiet about, but the truth cannot be concealed. It’s almost impossible to catch all bugs and predict all scenarios of their “arrival”.
There is always a hidden, unsized condition that may lead to a minor bug appearance. Even in production. Even after the thorough and rigorous testing.
Please note that “minor bug” is the key phrase here. Major bugs in production is one of the challenges the product team constantly faces. This is a factor that must not be tolerated no matter whether you are running QA in-house or entrusted an outsourcing QA company with the task.
How to avoid major bugs in production? This question stirs the minds of many Quality Assurance specialists. And every QA teams offer their unique method to solving this problem. Working on projects of different complexity, we use a proprietary approach of two-tier product verification. How does it work?
Each QA team operates under the guidance of a QA Manager, who is more involved in the development process, reviews, communication with the team. It allows having an outside perspective and ensures quick tasks verification from the backlog.
Besides, team expertise in the domain has a great impact on the testing process and the final product quality. Knowing all the bottlenecks and peculiarities of the product or industry-specific requirements, the QA team will be able to hunt bugs excluding the possibility of major issues appearing in the production.
Regardless of the challenges, the ultimate goal of any QA team is not only to deliver stakeholders feedback about the application quality and its alignment with business requirements. The QA specialists work to streamline a software development process, make it more effective and time-efficient, dealing with the challenges to release quality products to the market.
And what QA challenges do you have in your work?