Quality Assurance Outsourcing

Quality Assurance Outsourcing Options

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What is the “best” quality assurance outsourcing option? There are certainly a wide variety of lists that you can choose from.

But, only you can determine the “best” based on what YOU need.

Unfortunately, you really won’t know that until AFTER you’ve experienced the results.

But, there are some things you can consider (and questions you can ask) that will stack the odds of success in your favor.

Great Questions to Ask About Quality Assurance Outsourcing

  1. Expertise – Have the test engineers that will be working on your project worked on similar projects recently? What did they learn on those projects that will help your project be a success?
  2. Availability – Are the engineers with that expertise available when YOU need them? If there is a delay starting, will they still be available? How would that work?
  3. Price/Cost – Calculate the cost rather than decide based on the price.  Huh?  Yeah, who cares what the hourly rate is when you don’t know how much time it will take. Get an estimate and then decide based on the hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours estimated. Here’s a hint – talented quality assurance outsourcing engineers can build and execute test plans almost twice as fast as general testers – and you’ll get better result in this project and your next one!  Do the math!
  4. References – Do they have references for previous customers who wanted similar quality assurance outsourcing?  If so, then ask to talk with one or two. This can make a HUGE difference – and here’s why. You really want to hear two things from a reference. How well did they do meeting the goals? What did that person (the reference) do to make the overall project easier and better with the vendor they selected?

How TESTCo Answers Those Questions

At TESTCo, we have all those bases covered.

quality assurance outsourcing questions to askExpertise – we only use experienced software test engineers – no testers! We’ve been delivering software testing and quality assurance outsourcing since 2002 and we only hire experienced test engineers – and they DO make a difference.

Availability – TESTCo is specifically designed to provide on-demand software testing precisely when you need it. Sure, our rates are a little higher but we always have the talent when you need it.

Price/Cost – TESTCo only hires experienced software testing engineers and quality assurance managers. As a result, our prices are a bit higher than most quality assurance outsourcing providers. But, when you combine the test production capability of an experienced quality assurance engineer with the strategy and planning of an experienced quality assurance manager, your project will be completed quicker and with much better results.  The price is higher but the cost is lower.

References – every TESTCo customer is happy to share their experiences working with us. You’ll hear where we succeeded and where we didn’t. Nobody is perfect every time. But, what you will also hear – guaranteed – is how our customers appreciate what we did and how we worked with them. Listen closely to hear their tips and tricks for getting the most out of their TESTCo quality assurance engineers and managers.

And then what?

We’d like to be your next quality assurance outsourcing partner. Contact us to find out how we can make your next quality assurance project a success without hassles.

Automated Regression Testing for Software | TESTCo

Automated Regression Testing Dilemma

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Nobody likes running long software regression testing cycles. It’s long, hard and boring.

And yet, nobody likes to release bugs either. NPS (Net Promoter Score) drop like a rock and the support phones light up like little annoying Christmas ornaments.

So, just grin and bear it or take the plunge into software test automation?

It depends on where you stand on these two dilemmas.

1. Business Speed Dilemma

This dilemma is about your cost and speed of producing software versus capturing more customers and larger market share before your competitors.

  • Adding customers, solving real problems and growing your market share requires more features in your software.
  • More software features require more software testing.
  • More software testing takes more time, people and delays releasing your new features.

So, faster software production equals more customers as long as you meet their minimum quality requirements. Otherwise, they dump your software or mobile app like yesterday’s leftover tacos.

2. People Versus Machines Dilemma

This dilemma considers that people are more adaptable but more expensive than machines that are more consistent but less expensive.

  • People are better at finding defects.
  • People are slower and more expensive than machines but require less “programming”.
  • Defects found late in the process are very expensive to fix.
  • Machines are better are consistently repeating sets of activities.
  • Machines are slower and less expensive than people but require more “programming”.
  • Defects found early in the process are cheaper to fix.

So, how to resolve your dilemma? My friend and business mentor, Keith Cunningham says

One choice is slavery. Two choices is a dilemma. Three choices is freedom.

Hybrid Software Regression Testing That Turns a Dilemma into Freedom

Consider a hybrid approach to software regression testing.

Use people for manual regression for all features in the current and previous version.

New(ish) features are where most of the defects lie in hiding. This leverages the human advantage of finding defects in new features.
This also minimizes the amount of time & money spent on people in the regression testing cycles. You will have the benefit of faster and cheaper software regression testing cycles.

Use Test Automation for regression testing all features released prior to the previous version.

Older features are where most software developers do damage. This leverages the machine advantage of consistently repeating activities. This also minimizes the amount of time between discovering a defect and fixing the defect – which dramatically reduces the cost of fixing the defect.

You and your developers will have the benefit of real time testing so that regression defects (where new features break older existing features) are much cheaper to fix.

The Drawbacks to Hybrid Software Regression Testing

  1. You may need to add Test Engineers to your software testing team. Successful test automation will require written test cases that can be easily automated. Test Engineers know how to write these types of test cases.
  2.  You will have to decide on which approach to use for Test Automation – Record/Play, Scripted or built-in APIs. You’ll need an experienced Test Automation Engineer to help you determine the best path for you and your business.

At TESTCo, we can help with both – call and let’s talk about how to implement or improve your automated regression testing.

agile software testing reportDownload our report that looks at the challenges and pitfalls of creating automated regression tests in an Agile environment.

Download Agile Testing Report