How To Promote An Efficient Working Relationship Between QA & Developers?

QA engineers understand how possible it is to get annoyed when working with developers. These troubles are often the product of misaligned preferences: developers are concerned with producing code, while QA is concerned with quality.

Agile teams will help in the alignment of QA and developers, but there are still some pitfalls to avoid. There are six main best practices that QA teams can follow to improve communication with developers, according to industry specialists. But first, let’s look at why the two teams are fighting in the first place.

When does “completed” become actually “completed”?

The reasons that motivate each team are the key difference. Developers are often tasked with writing code that delivers a particular purpose. Because of the technical and restricted scope of their work, they can ignore how their contribution fits into the bigger picture. QA developers, on the other hand, are responsible for delivering a comprehensive, consumer viewpoint to the table through Issue tracking tools, where the output of a special function is just as good as the overall experience.

For example, suppose you’re working on a system that keeps a record of the number of active users. Because of the algorithm’s design, it returns fractional users—for instance, 5.5 active users—which delivers little sense from the user’s perspective.

A second situation can be that a developer suggests requiring users to uninstall items individually in many places. This requires the user to perform a number of acts that could simply be automated, which has a direct influence on the user experience.

But, let’s be proactive: What should QA do, and what mindset should it choose, to fully realize the agile growth potential? A variety of ways for testers to increase their working relationships with developers are outlined below.

Concentrate on reliability/quality rather than testing

Testing is nothing more than a system to an end. Often enough, QA engineers run tests as though they’re trying to satisfy a quota for test completion. We must keep in mind that the ultimate purpose is to increase product quality.

Make sure you know what’s important to your consumer and put it to the test. Don’t just focus on the thought of a user story. Try to picture yourself in the shoes of the consumers and assure that the app makes sense to them.

Always have your users in mind when testing, and also don’t test just to say you did. Users are more excited about the quality of the software and whether it satisfies their needs than with the number of tests you did on it.

Share the burden of liability

It’s simple: everybody should be responsible for the product’s quality. There are no “us” and “them” in an agile unit. Developers should be responsible for their work and assure that appropriate unit tests are written. The whole system should be tested by QA.

Yes, quality assurance is the protector(of the monsters i.e. defects), but everyone on the agile team should share accountability for the product’s quality equally.

Choose your wars carefully

You can’t battle every single defect as a QA tester. Identify which battles are worth the fight and which you should or can avoid. Or else, everyone will lose a lot of time repairing problems that aren’t necessary.

Here’s a suggestion: Set your own “red line” of things you would not settle on, and concentrate entirely on them. For example, you can say that when it occurs to loading times and usability of the original flow of the product, it should be perfect. Now you have chosen this model and you’ll stick to it no matter what the situation. On the other hand, you can be lenient on other metrics that ‘you think’ won’t actually matter in the long run. 

Before each version is launched, various teams form a “defects committee,” which pre-defines showstoppers vs. other defects. This encourages everyone’s efforts to be more focused.

Be optimistic when it comes to defects

There is no way to ensure that you will have no errors no matter how much testing you do. Perhaps the most stringent testing protocols can never block anything from being detected by external users. Preserve your cool, learn from these escaped bugs, and improve your next launch more carefully.

Developers are fond of asking QA engineers, “How did you handle to miss this? You didn’t put it to the test, did you?” The truth is that software grows increasingly complex, and it is impossible to assess every possible situation and configuration.

As per the time we have, we do risk-based testing and evaluate the user flows we consider to be the most appropriate and general.

We engage with product managers, commercial stakeholders, and even customers in certain situations. If something gets through our site, we carry out a debriefing to find out exactly what occurred and why we overlooked it, as well as building an automated test to identify escaped defects.

Make your actions more visible

Any team, including agile teams, benefits from visibility because it enhances teamwork and confidence. You should not assume that developers or other stakeholders are informed of your activities, testing methods, or rules. With the developer, go through what you’re going to judge.

When you reveal your work with developers, they will begin to concentrate on the things that are essential, upstream. Regular bug-hunt days/events with various stakeholders including but not limited to product management, support, and designers not only expand the spectrum of testing but also give the product more eyes to scrutinize.

Publishing key consumer activities has the added benefit of recognizing you as a technical expert who advocates for the end-user.

Conclusion

Skilled QA engineers don’t rely on a magical way to get things to run more smoothly. Instead, they take the lead and increase communication with their developers, keeping in mind that the user’s experience is the most essential factor. Testing is simply a means to a goal, which is quality. 

TestUnity is a SaaS-based technology platform that is managed by a vast community of tester and QA spread around the globe. We give an end-to-end software testing cycle and ensure the best results. Testunity operates with a mission to bring down the cost of testing without endangering the quality of the product. TestUnity has expertise in all testing domains and processes. We will help you in getting better and efficient testing results without spending much of your software testing. Testunity helps in producing the project on time and without any bugs or issues without the requirement to spend much on testing. Contact us now to get in touch with one of the most efficient software testing company in the world.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.