Quality Assurance on the Edge
Qulix Systems Experts Series
There are lots of custom software development companies with a special QA department of testers there. Qulix Systems is not an exception. Here is what one of the leading Test managers of Qulix Systems, Alexander Zhendinsky, says.
VLE: What is your work experience as a developer and QA tester?
AZH: To start I may say that I am a regular of State Belarusian University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (SBUIR), Minsk, Belarus, graduate where providing of lots of different information which is hard to cope with is a common thing. But the reverse of the medal is the following- knowledge gained there gives a real base which helps a young specialist to find himself in lots of areas which are not related to radioelectronics. In IT domain I came in after some time of working at Nokia service center and some trading companies - which is even more distant from QA then you can imagine.
It was 5 years ago. There was no profound knowledge and practice of computer work in me at those days so lots of my time was spent on getting to know computer administration peculiarities except managing the main task of gaining QA tester proficiency.
The start of my QA tester position was really quick. First I had a training practice during one day on Saturday after which I was provided with heaps of documentation and manuals to consult with. Second, on Monday I was already testing a system for one of our Belarusian clients. It was really exciting and challenging. QA profession is really exciting and you should not trust those who claim the opposite.
My second project in IT domain was a real university of life. It was a project with foreign customers which was conducted strictly on RUP (Rational Unified Process) by an excellent management staff. Benefits of my participation in that project were obvious. It gave me experience of handling management pitfalls of working in teams, resource and process planning, that knowledge served as a foundation for my present-day work in a QA department of Qulix Systems.
VLE: What can you determine as the most difficult in QA?
AZH: As for me, the most sore spot in QA is careless attitude of some project managers to necessity of testing in general. Some reckon that QA is almost a useless thing which is not worth paying attention to. They do not understand aims and priorities of testing. Think that proper QA performance is just a waist of time. But if to have a look at any worth-while project-management manual we will see 60-70% data of expense usually goes on QA from the whole cost of IT project development.
VLE: We know that there are lots of myths and stories in every occupation. What can you say about that?
AZH: QA Myths - one of the topics that are a part of QA introduction course which is regularly read by our company experts in Moscow companies and Minsk universities.
First myth: QA equals Software Development Product Testing
This is not exactly the same thing. Testing process is a part of Quality Assurance. The lion's share of QA goals is projects' quality procurement. The project can be considered successfully performed when all of its components are carefully compiled and gathered as parts of Swiss watch. That means that every project participator is perfectly aware of his responsibilities, goals and targets.
Second myth: A Tester job is much easier than a Developer's occupation.
Not true. I can site lots of examples as a back-balance to that statement. In that case I can say that people are getting mixed up with definition of a proficient TESTER and a PERSON who just clicks all the time. An expert in QA both is a programmer, analyst and manager at once. A whole baggage of knowledge needs to be under the belt in order to be a real pro in testing. Moreover, such a person is always a creative man who is able to lay out complicated tasks in a plain manner skillfully, thinks logically and sequentially.
VLE: Is there is something not worthy paying attention in QA?
AZH: Every detail has to be taken into account in QA of a system's run. This is what determines a qualified tester. The core thing here is not to worry much about 'friendly' attacks of your developers reckoning that a tester is a project enemy who delays projects termination. A good thing here is that such developers are few today though everybody knows counteraction phenomenon. Developers work for creation, QA testers - for breaking and finding bugs in their work. That is understandable but we are a good team though.
VLE: How did you personally stick to Quality Assurance?
AZH: I was lucky to get to Qulix Systems when formalization of processes and the whole work in the company was at its beginning. The world of QA was also changing constantly, new methodologies were appearing and I was up to that with a real will. The work was complex and challenging. But when your brand-new ideas find positive feedback of colleagues and customers you are proud of yourself and feel really influential.
VLE: Does every software project need testers?
AZH: If customers are interested in a successful realization of a project than I would strongly recommend presence of good testers. Bugs are a common place in a development process no matter what professional level programmers possess. The point here is only in quantity of bugs. Talking about statistics I may say that 90 % of all bugs are usually fixed by developers while code compiling process and launching a product. 10 % of them just can't be found because of substandard situations in program' run which can not be taken into account by developers. In some cases developers do not lift a hand in launching a written code to make sure that everything is ok. So testers are exactly what any development process always needs to secure the process and a company' s name.
VLE: What kinds of testing should be considered on a project?
AZH: There is no a well-defined answer here. The number of tests needed is a unique thing to define and primarily depends on a project itself, its requirements, terms and conditions of programming, the way future system will be running. But there are some common recommendations here. Testing process has to be started at the period of a project' initiation. Technical and functional specifications should be checked. The beginning of a project is an important period that must not be omitted. All mistakes at that period can smoothly ruin further successful project development and system's performance. Usually it saves time and money. Such efforts at the beginning reduce project's costs.
VLE: What are common problems in the software development process?
AZH: Well, it's not easy to determine at once the most common ones. There are lots of them but a competent manager saves situation. Here are some pitfalls that usually occur:
- Ignorant project manager - the most crucial thing on a project. Problems with working hours and efforts assessment, goals allocation and performance audit, processes design easily supplement.
- Badly formulated system's requirements, their incomprehensibility, incompleteness, ambiguity.
- Incorrectly chosen technologies for project development.
- Global changes in a project in the middle of the development process - system's architecture and database structure alteration which drags out project terms and increases expenses.
VLE: What is software 'quality'?
AZH: As for me this is a hookup of functional and technical system's requirements fitness with final realization. Moreover a qualitative project is the one with great functional procurement and neither testers nor final users were able to find bugs and defaults.
VLE: How can it be known when to stop testing?
AZH: Many modern software applications are so complex, and run in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done. Common factors in deciding when to stop are:
- Deadlines of a project
- Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
- Coverage of code/functionality/requirements reaches a specified point
- Bug rate falls below a certain level
- Beta or alpha testing period ends
VLE: Who is a good QA tester?
AZH: This is not only a person with proper education (mathematics, informatics) with logical thinking and attention to details, but also a person who leaves and breathes for QA. In that case that job can be a dream career.
VLE: What Qulix Systems does to provide qualified and efficient QA performance?
AZH: Qulix Systems always thinks about our testers' professional level fitness on a global IT market. We cherish every newcomer and help in software development proficiency reach.
- First of all I may say that we are very thorough in our employees' recruitment. This is a primary stage when those with not a high proficiency level are sifting out.
- Also we educate them. Seminars and trainings are conducted. Then we make a newbie a stand-by tester or developer with his own concrete tasks. That gives an opportunity to dive into the process at once. Results of his work can be easily seen and necessary hints and recommendations can be provided which reduces time spent and increases speed of their learning.
- We use the practices of special educational materials preparation by qualified testers. All of these we discuss during our seminars where the best new working practices are deciding to be used.
- One of the most determining facts which help our testers to gain experience is a challenging work with diverse project tasks. We try to make sure that every single tester knows how to be a functional tester, test-designer, automation tests developer, analyst and technical writer.
- One - year project of individual development and growth preparation is another useful thing we practice in Qulix Systems. When all of that is discussed a manager helps to intensify and streamline a newcomer's professional growth.
VLE: Thank you!
AZH - Alexander Zhendinsky is Qulix Systems Test Team Manager, has 5 years experience in QA field, wide experience in development of test documentation - test plans, test suites, test cases, test surveys, test scenarios, etc; excellent knowledge of test methodologies, test and development processes, interaction and communication processes building between customers and test team.
VLE - Vera Leonik, Qulix Systems eMarketing Specialist
About Qulix Systems:
Qulix Systems is an offshore custom software development company and IT solutions provider based in the UK, with offshore facilities located in Russia and Belarus. It has been successfully operating for almost 7 years and currently employs more than 150 qualified software engineers and managers. Our powerful combination of business process analysis and technical expertise enables us to provide a wide range of IT services across a number of industry verticals, these include: procurement and logistics, finance & banking, telecommunications, insurance, healthcare and manufacturing.
- Learn more about
