Quality assurance is a rather complex process that involves the participation of a large number of specialized specialists. For this process to be as effective as possible, it is necessary to pay a lot of attention to the selection of personnel and team structure. Today we want to discuss all the principal tasks and obligations of a software testing team.
What Does the Team in Charge of Quality Assurance do?
Contrary to popular belief, the quality assurance team does more than only test products. The QA team will be in charge of several duties throughout the software development lifecycle, including gathering requirements, developing test plans, writing test cases, executing tests, documenting results, and reporting issues.
The main task of the QA team is to make your product of the highest quality, clear from bugs so that customers like it and meet specific requirements. The team can consist of testers, managers, business analysts, and several other specialists. Finding the right dedicated software QA team will help you control the quality of the product from the beginning of development and after entering the market. Take an appropriate choice by following the link.
Key Roles and Responsibilities in the QA Team
A sufficiently large staff should work here for the QA team to work as efficiently as possible.
QA Test Manager
They are team leaders whose responsibilities include communication with the client, distributing responsibilities between team members, and solving specific problems. They take responsibility for the quality of work performed and provide reporting to the client. This specialist acts as a line between the team and the customer.
Department Head
The task of the head of the department is to control the performance of the work of other team members. Unlike a manager, they have practically no contact with customers and concentrate all their professional activities within the team. Sometimes this specialist can write test cases if other team members do not have time to complete the work on time (a considerable number of orders, went on vacation or sick leave). This specialist should have profound knowledge in the field of testing.
Test Architect
The task of this specialist is to think over all aspects of testing, from choosing a test environment to what tools will be used. This person must perfectly understand the customer’s requirements and build a testing architecture taking them into account.
Tester
The responsibilities of this specialist include performing different manual tests to verify the user experience. His responsibilities include evaluating the quality of the interface and checking whether the software can fulfill the goals for which it was created. They must check how comfortable the person uses it and whether the client can get the service they expect. Sometimes, the tester may proofread the code to identify apparent errors.
Manual testing is used always while a project is released to the world to ensure the software works correctly from the user’s point of view.
Test Automation Engineer
Automated testing can perform a deeper analysis of the code, determine vulnerabilities, performance, features of work on different devices, and much more. This type of testing involves the use of special tools. The specialist prescribes a test scenario, and special software conducts a comprehensive analysis.
Practice shows that automated testing should be carried out at all stages of software development, and special attention should be paid after the product’s release. Modern tools allow you to test in the background and identify bugs before users notice them.
Analyst
When specialists conduct testing, they identify a large number of errors, then they systematize the received data and transfer it to the analyst. They are responsible for analyzing the result and deciding what action needs to be taken.
This specialist should have a good understanding of the goals set by the customer and whether they can be achieved, taking into account the identified problems and giving recommendations on how to solve them.
Managing an offshore QA team is only possible with an analyst because their responsibilities include compiling the documentation and providing advice on eliminating errors so that the project can fulfill the primary business objectives.
In the End
Maintaining such a large team can sometimes be difficult, so it makes sense to hire outsourcing specialists. It will save you a lot of money and get a good result. You can hire the whole team at once or individual specialists to solve specific problems. All team members should understand the importance of testing, the role of such specialists, and what is included in their responsibilities. In this case, it will be easier for you to organize the interaction with outsourcing specialists, and you will be able to get a high-quality product.
