The Role of Testing & QA in Digital Engineering

What does your company’s executive management team expect from the QA & Testing team?

Executive expectations are well aligned with Test/QA team priorities.

• 1Early software detection, increased software quality, and end-user satisfaction are the clear priorities for executives.
• 2Contribution to business growth and business outcomes, reduced application cycle times, and increased quality and awareness across disciplines were ranked much lower.
• 3Alignment between Test/QA and the business is a positive thing, but how much of this is shaped by pre-existing views and limited expectations of the breadth of the Test/QA team’s role?
• 4What if the Test/QA team could demonstrate their ability to have a more direct impact on product cycle time, operational efficiency, and business growth and outcomes? In the world of digital, the need to develop and test with business outcomes in mind is crucial.

With the evolution of digital, which of the following factors are becoming inevitable for your QA teams?

Long testing cycles, tighter testing windows, and increasing complexity continue to challenge Test/QA teams in the age of digital engineering.

• 1Interconnected systems and the plethora of devices, operating systems, and form factors make the Test/QA professional’s job more challenging.
• 2Putting best practices into action and not having the right processes in place are also problematic.
• 3Despite the fact that cycle time and speed were not determined to be top priorities for Test/QA teams, time-related issues are still at the top of the list of their challenges.
• 4As digital innovation presents new use cases for mobile and multi-channel applications, we’re likely to see a lack of proper tools and testing methods become of even greater concern.

Which of the following best describes your organization’s position?

In relation to having specific test strategies for testing products in an (IoT) environment?

• 1IoT, as much as any area, requires new approaches to Test/QA.
• 2In many cases, teams are being asked to come up with ways to test functionality that’s never been attempted before.
• 3Some organizations need help putting effective strategies (and infrastructure) in place.

What challenges did you encounter, or expect to encounter when setting up an artificial intelligence project?

Success with artificial intelligence is hampered by a lack of knowledge and expertise in multiple areas.

• 1Connecting AI projects with clear business use cases is still the biggest challenge for enterprises. This is entirely consistent with other recent industry analysis.
• 2In addition, the lack of knowledge in both development and QA is also hampering enterprise deployments of the technology.
• 3The challenge of integrating AI technologies with other enterprise applications is also a factor.

What (in your opinion) are the biggest challenges in achieving the desired levels of test automation?

Test Automation offers significant benefits, but realizing them is a challenge.

• 1Reduced test cycle time, better test coverage, and better reuse of test cases are a few of the significant benefits cited by respondents.
• 2But they also cite several obstacles that prevent them from taking advantage of those benefits, including frequent changes to application code and a lack of skilled and experienced resources.

What is your current approach to maintaining the health of your test cases?

There are a variety of approaches to maintaining the health of test use cases.

• 1Continuous integration is key to keeping test cases aligned with the latest versions of digital applications.
• 2Others are parameterizing the test environment for test execution.