The agile development methodology was originally created for clustered teams or teams physically present at the same office. Since they were meant to work in close proximity, most of the communication between development and QA teams was through face-to-face conversations. But nowadays, most businesses have distributed teams not just as a trend but for its significance. Distributed teams can work on projects 24/7, and strong talent can be found in the markets. However, the benefits of distributed teams come with some trade-offs. For most distributed teams, it becomes difficult to adopt agile practices that require direct interactions.
Previously, a few organizations had teams working remotely, but ever since the spread of the Coronavirus more organizations are promoting the work from home mode. In such uncertain times where businesses are struggling to survive, remote work aids have enabled them to continue their operations without much difficulty. Thus, companies are adopting different tools for better team collaboration. These tools offer live dashboards, instant notifications, etc. to support the software testing teams. Organizations have also adopted work from home mode in the past, which helps their team members to manage a better work/life balance by opting for work from home occasionally.
Why Test Management for Smooth Remote Working?
Why should the domain of test management be left behind in remote working? QA or software testing is one of the most collaborative activities in the development process. So if companies need to maintain their teams in the work from home mode, they need a good test management tool to ensure the process flow within the teams. A test management tool has the capability of effectively facilitating the test management process. Test management tools also provide defect management and help teams to share notifications, allow approvals and generate live dashboards and reports.
A test management tool is not just limited to the test management process but it also helps a QA team in maintaining traceability which provides accountability for their work. It also works as a central test case repository that allows testers to reuse test cases between projects and share test cases with the new QA testers in the team. It helps new QA team members to know about a project’s status and also take it further from there.
Structuring the Global Teams
A good software architecture follows a modular design, so you need to structure your teams in a similar manner. Teams working in different physical offices should be self-sufficient in developing their product, which minimizes the amount of collaboration required with team members in other time zones. When a project does require teams in different locations to offer their contribution, they can focus on integration points or use test management tools.
Conclusion
To some, a test management tool has become a must-have tool for any QA team. Without a test management tool, it becomes a challenge to orchestrate the QA, development, and project management teams around a streamlined QA process. QA managers have to micromanage matters like gathering status reports from stakeholders and disseminating them to all those involved. Whereas, test management tools save their time and effort.
Every team works remotely in a distributed organization. QA teams need to adapt and learn how to share work between different offices, communicate effectively and develop a consistent culture across all geographical boundaries. With the help of test management tools, remote teams can collaborate effectively with their team members based in different geographical locations. They can also learn something new from others. They also explore and share successful test management practices across all distributed locations.
Organizations have promoted remote working enormously after the COVID-19 outbreak, and many businesses have become distributed from time to time. Out of office and in-house teams, both can easily utilize the benefits of test management tools.
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