Breaking Down Your Development and Testing Walls
As I’ve mentioned in the past, testing is no longer this final step reserved for the very end of the software development lifecycle. Feedback is much more rapid thanks to the consistent sprinkling of testing that happens throughout each stage of product creation.
And that assures better quality. It shortens the feedback loop by a significant margin. It gives developers a better idea of what needs to be altered at a stage much more conducive to proper iteration.
But maybe most important, things like agile and DevOps—which encourage that you shift your testing left and allow for more collaboration between different parts of your team—have broken down the walls that previously separated testers for the rest of the organization.
Speaking to AgileConnection in an interview, Mike Sowers, CIO at TechWell, explained the massive impact that new testing and software practices have had on collaboration.
“We sort of lost track of that whole collaboration thing for one reason or another. It was important that the testing team be independent and so there was a time and even today where testing teams weren't even allowed to talk to developers or talk to customers and clients,” Sowers said. “So now again, with the opportunity of agile and having that whole team accountability for quality, that's just critically, critically important and a superb approach.
It sounds easy to just say, “Hey, our teams need to communicate more.” But of course, every company has different moving pieces and parts that don’t often intersect. You might sport the same logo and contribute to the same final product, but you don’t get enough opportunities to communicate and collaborate.
Agile has changed that, especially for testers. And by breaking down these walls and involving developers, testers, and even customers into the process, we’ve taken great strides toward improving not only how applications are made, but the quality of the applications themselves.
“That's why I think we're seeing much more collaboration and openness to have that conversation between, ‘Hey, I'm a tester, how can I help you from a development perspective?’ The developer saying, ‘I'm a developer, how can I help you from the testing perspective?’” Sowers detailed.
Developers and testers shouldn’t feel like warring factions that have to reside in the same nation. Developers need testers to be successful, and testers need developers to create better products. Break down your boundaries by encouraging more communication and collaboration within your team.
