Over the past two weeks, one of our consultants from the BiH office, Azure DevOps engineer Ahmed Babić, led an engaging on-site training program on Azure Pipelines, guiding participants from “zero to hero” level. It was a great opportunity and something we continuously strive for, to share knowledge among the teams, boosting our competency and the delivery of our projects. The training program included more than 20 participants, who attended all four organized sessions. The number of attendees ensured the training program remained engaging, sparking many discussions and prompting numerous questions.

We have thus far talked about quite concrete steps toward making quality a first-class citizen of the modern agile software development setting. Those will get us 80% there. But, as in any other process, the last 20% will require 80% of the total time, effort, and experience.

In the previous articles, we talked a lot about the increased technical demands on the Quality Assurance engineer when transitioning to a modern agile setting. These technical considerations are quite effective at paving the road, gaining access to all relevant forums. To reach the goal of becoming a first-class citizen, however, quality needs to be everywhere. This takes a lot of hard work and persistence. Team composition is also particularly important. Decent quality levels can only be achieved if the responsibility is shared.

When talking about transitioning from more traditional ways of testing, we tend to downplay the impact on the skills required from a Quality Assurance engineer. The fundamentals of test case design are, of course, the same. All the same methods applied when designing test cases, such as boundary value analysis, equivalence partitioning, etc., are still valid. However, the way of identifying the input to these methods is different. So is the implementation as automation is crucial. And this is where the technical demands often increase.

“Going Agile” is not just about organizing teams and learning Scrumish frameworks. Being Agile is about adopting to a specific mindset, enabling us to follow the constant and rapid flow of changes. Especially important tools supporting this mindset are continuous integration and continuous deployment. To be able to integrate with confidence and deploy with managed risks, having a quality focused approach is essential.

Looking back over the years, we can see that projects tend to use test efforts as Quality Insurance, rather than a part of the Quality Assurance efforts. Having well-designed test cases exercising relevant functionality from different perspectives are, of course, fundamental. If done right, it is probably the best way to determine if deliverables are designed to specification. This cannot, however, be viewed as an insurance policy put on the development process against any errors introduced along the way.

Software quality assurance has been on the rise for the last 20 years. Today, it’s more important than ever. With a growing and ever-changing digital landscape, and businesses built around software solutions, software quality assurance is vital to create a successful business and to be able to scale when the time comes. Especially for SaaS companies, software quality assurance is vital to provide high quality services and to create long-term success.

“Quality assurance enables energy businesses to deliver high-quality solutions and customer experiences, and to effectively and more easily manage complexity” – Eric Järdemar, Delivery manager at System Verification

If you’re operating within the energy industry often feels like navigating a complex world. There are many challenges associated with the complexity of the product, market, applications, chain of actors, digital solutions etc. Behind the scenes, managing this complexity while ensuring a smooth and simple user experience is crucial. Not being able to do this may have devastating consequences for your brand and business. With software quality assurance you can effectively manage and simplify complexity and ensure excellent customer journeys and value.

In the fast-growing world of modern business, where agility and adaptability dominate, companies continually strive to enhance their operations while upholding rigorous standards of quality. One strategy for achieving this traction is the utilization of consultants for Quality Assurance (QA) instead of hiring full-time employees. While this approach offers a number of benefits, it's essential to recognize that consultants alone may not always be the answer. Instead, a balanced combination of consultants and in-house expertise is key to achieving optimal QA outcomes.