No Country for Old QA (QA Challenge Accepted 3.0)

Software may be eating the world but it also eats the average QA job. The quality software landscape is shifting fast. Shifting left means let the machines do what they are really good at — repetitive checks. Running a barrage of automated checks after every code change — unit, integration, UI tests, security checks — all in a matter of minutes. Shifting right means constantly pushing features and monitoring the results. It means dog-fooding the product, monitor business metrics, do A/B testing, launch for 1% of your users. It also means experiment on behalf of the users, let them find the bugs. Speed to market is another trend. Do you know what is the slowest chain in the software delivery — the (manual) QA process. Almost all of the startups and almost all of the ‘unicorn’ companies do not have dedicated QA teams. The number of developers doubles every 5 years, can you say the same for the number QA engineers? The average QA engineer, sitting in the middle, is being squeezed from left and right. It’s getting harder and harder to see his future as QA. By examining the QA history and looking at the current trends, we can make educated guessed where we’re heading in the future. There is always a need for quality software, but who’s job is it? This presentation will offer you guidelines and specific areas where to focus your attention if you want to continue working as QA.

Transcript

1. q No Country for Old QA emo@komfo.com
2. $2 billion $9 billion $20 billion
3. $44 billion $384 billion $501 billion $573 billion
5. The Cost of Quality
6. Free vs Paid Startup Monopoly Deploy Frequency Outsource Significant Impact
7. QA in the Last 15 Years…
8. Higher Salaries Less Headcount Technical Demands Moving to Other Positions No Dedicated Teams
9. DEV QA OPS Shift Left Shift Right Monitoring Mitigation Rollback Fast Automated Tests Static Code Analysis Core Reviews Outsource?
10. The Triangle
11. If you want to continue to work as QA, figure out how to help your company 1. Produce the highest quality 2. At the lowest cost 3. In the shortest lead time 4. Respond to change flexibly
12. W. Edwards Deming
13. 3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for massive inspection by building quality into the product in the first place. 5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs. 9. Break down barriers between departments. 11. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.
14. Prototyping Three amigos Pre-mortem Failures Checklist MVP / Lean UX Automated Tests Static Code Analysis Code Review / Pairing Build only what’s needed Exploratory Tests Business metrics Errors and exceptions Investigate defects Defect mitigation Customer surveys EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE AFFECTS QUALITY All test run after every commit Immediately fix broken build All changes in VCS No long lived branches Small batches / Feature flags PLAN DO CHECK ACT Small teams Share knowledge No silos No forced ranking Time to learn PRODUCT All errors/logs exposed Full access to API/DB Replaceable layers Runs on a laptop No manual setup PROCESS PEOPLE
15. Three amigos Automated Tests Exploratory Tests PLAN DO CHECK ACT PRODUCT PROCESS PEOPLE EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE AFFECTS QUALITY
16. QUALITY ≠ TESTING
17. Growth Only Happens When We Exceed Our Limits
18. Seven Steps
19. Visualize Data Trends Increase Feedback Loops Share Knowledge Fix Defects Immediately Eliminate Classes of Defects Build Mitigation Strategies Eliminate Waste
22. Thank You EmanuilSlavov.com @EmanuilSlavov