The role of a modern QE (1/4)
“Get me that application tested”, “Hmm… the button color doesn’t match the specifications”, “Wait, Did the requirement changed?”, “You definitely cannot completely automate this application!!”, “I hate my job, it’s a humdrum :(”
The idea of application development has grown to an extreme level. We have new frameworks, new tools, new ideologies coming out daily to build software, also the technologies surrounding to support them, after they have been built. The technologies to test these complex software has also find a way to evolve itself. We have new processes for the complete development & testing cycles. We now have fancy terms to describe these processes.
We have come a long way to introduce professionalism in the software development world. We have differentiated roles around the whole life cycle, particular people performing specific tasks, bridging the communication gaps between different departments. Researchers, Designers, Developers, QEs work side by side, in sync to get the best out of the project.
Majority of the projects have somehow integrating agile methodologies in the project development life cycle. We no more wait for a quarter, or even a year to get something out of the project. We have sprints, small in the amount of time to get an definite output.
Before we dive much deeper into what things have changed in the Quality World, it’s very important to know what has changed overall, in the product development life cycle, the roles & responsibilities and this affects stakeholders, product managers, developers and almost everyone who desires to bring success to the project.
“Please, make it as quick as possible, but please o please assure the quality ”, “I don’t know what i want, but i still want to build it for me”, “go agile, team!”, “I want to monitor success of my project everyday”, ”i want the team to help me sell my product”.
It’s well said,
“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”
Our goal has deviated from product oriented development towards customer oriented development. Our customers want products developed fast, maintaining utmost quality. They also want to see success of their products, not just in form of white papers, reports or mocks, they want to see their product (portion of their product) in action, as the development happens.
To meet all the requirements, the growing demand of customers, and rapid technology growth, we were introduced to Agile. The term in self explanatory. Follow the default mechanism to build something, but at a very fast pace, with some form of end result which meet their needs.
How does this concern you at all?
- The requirements are quite unclear. You know what the end goal is, but the path to achieve is kinda shady.
- Your customer demands some output too often. He wants his product go live with new functionalities too often.
- You want to track different metrics related to project success, what things need to improve, how each and every member from your team is doing.
- Make stronger communication bridge between you (service provider) and the customer.
and much more!
Should i go Agile? Why?
- Customer Engagement.
- Customer Satisfaction.
- Better Quality.
- Rapid Development.
- Higher Productivity.
- Effective Communication.
- Lower Cost of Development & Management.
- Employee Satisfaction.
and much more!
100% Agile is a myth. Everyone tend to fold and mold the official model to fit their organization, their product & the people and customers they work with. But the goal here is to maximize profit & development and minimize the hurdles we face during each phase of the software development life cycle.
I would like to take a pause here. Get a good look. It’s time to self survey about how you develop products, how you bring agility and remove the noise from the software development life cycle.
Meet you in the next article, where we discuss about what really going agile means, and how many companies tend to follow an ideal model or procedure to get the most benefited.
See you there!
To read the next article in the series, click me.
