Given that test management is the nerve center of all testing activities in the organization, it is imperative for the project managers and organizations to meticulously monitor the quality assurance process backed by the power of proficient tools. With the competition heating up in the software industry in this fast-paced business environment, maintaining the quality and efficacy of the test management processes can be a daunting task.
Software development and testing techniques and procedures have been around for decades. Even though many of the software development and management processes have gone through tremendous change and progress, testing practices have not been able to keep up with the changing times and the evolving needs of the customers. In fact, organizations are still steadfast in their orthodox practices and still clinging to their legacy test management tools that block the efficiency in testing processes. In a world where more and more organizations are rapidly moving towards agile and DevOps practices, it has become even more challenging for the project teams to sync and integrate the older and inefficient test management system with these innovative methodologies.
Why are Effective Test Management Solutions Considered to be Next Generation?
It is evident that the fundamental aim of the companies operating in the software industry is to deliver high-quality end products to the customers much faster than the competitors. Owing to this, the organization requires a test management tool that is not an anachronism; instead to materialize the goals and objectives of the organizations, a more efficient and next-generation solution is necessitated that can facilitate the project teams in simplifying the software testing processes.
As agile development is taking over the industry gradually, communication, collaboration, and adequate alignment between the different teams across the organization, including developers, business analysts, and testers become critical. The efficacy and productivity of the agile processes are derived from the ability of the managers to define and specify the project requirements quickly, which can then be communicated promptly to the development and the testing team as the source of truth for generating test cases and coding. Following this stage, the developers work on creating and shipping the specified features of the application which has to be validated and verified by the testing team. In case of any errors or defects, they are reported back to the teams and it is ensured that the outcomes of the testing process are made visible to all departments so that everyone has the same understanding of the issues. This entire process carried out by agile focused teams may seem easy and straightforward in theory, however, in reality, it is anything but. In actuality, there are many handoffs between multiple teams, hundreds of individuals in large organizations, and different systems, especially if it is a large scale project. Therefore, it is necessary for the project managers and the organization to incorporate a test management solution in the system which is a platform that collects pertinent information and data from multiple sources and merges them into one centralized database. In addition to that, by creating a common language that is understood by individuals across the team irrespective of their technical knowledge, a shared understanding and increased collaboration between teams is achieved.
The Uses of Test Management Systems
There are many application lifecycle management (ALM) platforms that have become outdated and are therefore incapable of supporting the emerging trends and practices of agile approaches, which again highlights the importance of innovative and up to date test management systems for the company. Even with the best of the organizations, when there are many different variables involved, it can become challenging to streamline their processes. The pressure of completing before the deadline further puts a strain on the project managers and the teams which may cause them to skip on some critical aspects of the testing process. This is where the test management solution especially comes in handy as they have a significant role in consolidating multiple aspects and components of development and testing into one platform. Consequently, not only the resource utilization and allocation, but the quality of the product, efficiency of processes, and the speed of testing is also enhanced. Good test management also empowers the project managers to further improve their visibility of all testing activities and facilitates them in tracing every aspect of the application to its origin. This provides robust accountability measures and a wealth of meaningful insights that can be used by teams in future projects.
