{"id":10741,"date":"2019-06-11T15:50:37","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T13:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/?p=10741"},"modified":"2025-07-31T18:24:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T16:24:49","slug":"qa-testing-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/qa-testing-today\/","title":{"rendered":"How QA Testing is Moving Up in Today\u2019s Agile Value Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the past, the core goal of testing is to find bugs and fix them. But the dynamics of IT and testing landscape have changed now. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agile QA approach and user experience driven development (UXDD) have taken modern software development and testing by storm. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are your QA testers up to speed? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a QA tester or manager, how you scale up your skills to match today\u2019s innovative challenges is the key to improving testing productivity and advancing your career prospects.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\u201cQuality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.\u201d
William A Foster<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Try Usersnap for QA Testing<\/h2>Try Usersnap Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Testing is changing, how are you adapting?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Speed is the name of the game now. Amazon has reported deploying thousands of times per day.<\/strong> And over <\/span>50<\/span><\/a>% of software firms have daily new releases. This trend is bound to increase with iterative development, continuous integration, and rapid deployment becoming the norm. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have highly dynamic mobile apps to e-commerce websites to cloud applications<\/a> working on \u2018Software as a Service\u2019 model. Technology has advanced to higher levels of integration where collaborated devices pass data to multiple devices.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s agile methodology<\/a> demands speed and agility in all phases of software development \u2013 including testing. However, is your company still using the old methods and tools to deliver application testing<\/a>? This could lead to poor quality and low productivity besides a demotivated QA testing team.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risk of QA failure in the agile workspace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Agile software development practices have led to faster product development lifecycles. You are developing products rapidly and delivering it in a short sprint<\/a> of 2 weeks. Or in a half sprint based on your urgency<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been instances<\/a> like the bitcoin nodes disappearing from the network due to software failures. There have been instances like the bitcoin nodes disappearing from the network due to software failures causing bitcoin transactions to take more than usual time<\/a>. And Suncorp banks having money disappearing from its customers\u2019 bank accounts after<\/span> a software upgrade. These type of issues cause a major dent on the brand\u2019s reputation besides the loss of trust and financial losses.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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New testing platforms. New QA mindset<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Effective QA and testing along with adequate tools and automation could have prevented some QA failures. Time saved can be utilized in multiple test iterations coupled with higher permutations and combination of test scenarios.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Try Usersnap for QA Testing<\/h2>Try Usersnap Now<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In addition, you are facing new technology platforms, devices, automation tools which require you and your team to acquire new skills and levels of expertise to be productive. Has your company\u2019s testing function adapted to these new demands? Are your QA testers empowered enough?  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agile development also involves working with cross-functional teams.<\/strong> This requires better communication and collaboration between QA and developers<\/a>. QA is an in-between role for product developers and end-users. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer Quality Assurance (CQA) is a new terminology that focuses on the use of VOC (Voice of Customer)<\/a> in product evaluation and improvement. Involving customers\u2019 opinions during QA will ensure higher user acceptance and greater product usage.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is crucial for QA success. And business growth.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Software testing trends you need to keep up with<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are a few crucial disruptive innovations that have impacted the way software is being tested and delivered. QA testers need to learn and adapt to these innovative trends.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cA human touch by QA teams for exploratory and usability testing is still essential \u201cHow to analyze software to discover key points of vulnerability and design experiments on the fly is still your QA explorer’s arsenal.\u201d
\nElisabeth Hendrickson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

1. Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI\/CD)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CI\/CD is a streamlined process that can help your team to release software updates into production release cycles quickly with lower costs and lesser risk. Automation can cover units and API testing<\/a>, but it may never be 100% at all times. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Cloud computing and \u2018Software as a Service\u2019 (SaaS)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cloud computing has enabled providing infrastructure, platforms and, applications as a service. You can rapidly deploy with the flexibility to scale up or scale down at lower costs and make your new application feature available to a global audience at a single point of time. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Mobility solutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mobility solutions require a different set of test skill sets. Mobile apps have their upgrades and fixes delivered weekly to a global audience who download them from the play store or elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The Internet of things (IoT)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You may have heard of sensor-based devices that collect data and pass on to different devices. IoT has been used in various industries such as manufacturing<\/a>, home automation, energy, food, and automobiles. This opens up a new area of QA where special expertise in IoT is needed.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Societal changes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Today your customer prefers to text rather than call customer service. So we have chatbots with natural language processing capabilities and some backed with artificial intelligence as well. Mobile shopping and quick e-commerce requires 100% uptime delivering the best digital customer experience.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Artificial Intelligence (AI)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AI-based applications are being used in new business use cases and may have good potential. These offer new scope for QA services in ways never dreamt before. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is your QA testing team geared up to deliver to the new challenging agile environment and dynamic applications?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where QA testing stands in today\u2019s product value chain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your success in today\u2019s QA testing world with the new digital disruptive environment needs a new set of skills, attitude, and mindset. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Quality Report 2017-18\u2019s key recommendation is to support DevOps and agile development by transforming smart QA and Test function and increase platform investments. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to move up the QA value chain in the agile workspace.<\/strong> You must redefine the team structure and roles and responsibilities so that the QA staffs are productive and keeping pace with the agile model. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have seen the varied dynamic testing landscape. It is your testing team that has to give the green signal to the bug-free and user-friendly product. This is where good QA people are important and attrition can have major impacts on your testing area.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recommended Reading:<\/b><\/p>\n