BOK Financial

The traditional approach to Quality Assurance (QA) involves testing software towards the end of the development cycle. At this point, testers provide all sorts of important feedback, but it is too late and there is little the team can feasibly do, but delay the release or potentially compromise quality over schedule.

This approach can no longer keep pace with the speed of software delivery in the modern era. Instead, QA must shift left, becoming an integral part of the development process from the outset ensuring the delivery of value is not stopped or slowed, but instead be part of building the value. Consequently, a re-envisioned QA organization helps the entire team collaborate to ensure that the release does not place the business at risk, undermining the very customer experience that digital transformation is dedicated to enhancing.

How does a traditional QA team transform into a Quality Engineering (QE) team that requires a cultural shift towards a more shared quality paradigm that drives a collaborative and integrated approach to software development? With this shift, the QE role is then expanded and elevated to assist teams with defining and achieving quality objectives. Here are a few key imperatives to assist with the transformational journey. Reorganize for scale and focus

Cultivate a culture of quality

Assess the current state of the quality assurance team, its processes, and its tools. This can be done by conducting interviews, surveys, and analysis of data and reports. The goal is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team and areas for improvement.

Define the vision for the modernized QE team. This should align with the overall business strategy and goals, and should be communicated clearly to all team members.

Identify the gaps between the current state and the desired state. This can involve identifying areas where the team lacks the necessary skills, tools, or processes to achieve the vision.

 By seeing how the beneficial of employer branding that can be received in the long run, it will be enhancing your organization’s reputation and encourage the employees to actively participate in your employer brand program. 

Develop a roadmap that outlines the steps needed to achieve the desired state. This may involve changes in processes, tools, or training for the team while ensuring desired state creates successful teams, systems, and experiences.

Implement the changes that may involve investing in new tools, providing training for the team, or changing processes.

Measure progress through key performance indicators (KPIs) and actionable quality metrics to ensure that modernization efforts have desired effect.

Continuously improve the QE team by regularly assessing its performance and identifying areas for further improvement.

Emphasize continuous learning so QE teams constantly learn and improve their skills and knowledge, staying up-to-date with emerging technologies and best practices. This enables them to adapt to changing software development trends and technologies and remain valuable contributors to the software development process.

Cultivate a culture of quality

Without a strategic focus on quality, accelerating time to market can quickly drive away the customers that you were trying to attract and retain. As Gartner notes, Going fast isnt jumping out of a plane without a parachute (though that may be the fastest way back to earth). Cross-functional teams must adopt key practices to integrate testing and quality into the process.

Create a culture that fosters continuous quality improvements by leading the organization through the cultural changes required for successful transformation. This may involve providing workshops, mentoring, and individual coaching sessions. Embrace a culture of collaboration for QE teams and development to work closely so that quality is built into software from the beginning. This requires breaking down silos and encouraging open communication and collaboration across teams.

Establish quality automation adoption

Grow and advance automation as much as possible, using tools and frameworks to automate testing and other repetitive tasks. This frees up team members to focus on higher-value activities such as exploratory testing and risk analysis.

Set “realistic” automation goals (100% automated is untenable) and collaborate with development teams to “unblock” automation where necessary by creating APIs or through tooling.

Focus on automating the right things, such as user experience and business outcomes, rather than just ensuring technical functionality.

Focus on a shift left testing approach that executes automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline therefore enabling the identification of potential issues and quality risks early on allowing them to be addressed before they become bigger problems.

Reduce risks with centralized visibility/traceability and release readiness dashboards that provide the right feedback to the right stakeholder at the right time.

Leverage the continuous testing model not only within shift left, but shift right as well by monitoring production information and feeding that back from the quality perspective.

Overall, the transformation from a QA team to a QE team requires a strategic approach, commitment to continuous improvement, collaboration, automation, and a willingness to adapt to changing software development trends and technologies. With a clear vision and roadmap, the team can become more efficient, effective, and agile, enabling it to better support the business and deliver high-quality products and services.