With the growing need for quality and speedy software releases, the need for independent QA teams increases. Remote working is the norm in the current digital era. Even if QA remote teams are qualified, the distance always matters. Involving them in the software development process becomes challenging especially collaborating with people who are not working in the same geographical location. It is important to address issues like building workflows and making each team member a part of the process to achieve business goals. A test management tool helps in bridging the gap between QA teams and brings all stakeholders on the same page.
Collaboration is the Key to Managing Remote Teams
All roles involved in the software development project including developers, testers, project managers, business analysts, and other stakeholders should be on the same page. A test management tool helps in promoting transparency of all remote QA team members on a single platform with the need for external communication and allows them to share critical information related to their sprints and releases.
From Test Design to Regression Cycles – Defect Management has it Covered
Test management tools are helpful in various stages of the software testing life cycle, which includes requirements for the final release. Initially, QA helps in designing and executing tests during the development process to prevent any roadblocks during a project. After requirement analysis, testers plan different test cases against these requirements. Test planning includes the actions QA engineers need to perform to ensure the application functions as planned. A test management tool can be used for creating and modifying test cases. Once the development stage is complete, QA teams run the test cases to check whether the application meets all technical requirements. Project managers assign regression cycles to detect bugs in the code. These cycles are typically used when new features or updates are added to an app.
Assigning Defects and E-mailing Status Updates
Since testers are located in different geographical areas, test managers assign cycles to different testers for test case execution. Here, each tester becomes an account manager with respect to the defects assigned and he connects with the respective developer to remove these bugs. Once the developer makes the required changes, the updated status of the defects is emailed to all stakeholders. Test management tools also offer task management and allow teams to keep track of the defects and promote defect management.
Conclusion
With the help of the right test management tools test managers can create the perfect test flow for remote QA teams or outsourced QA testers. These tools can perform automated tests, defects and project management tasks. A few tools also include advanced dashboards and detailed tracking of key metrics, and easy bug management. Whether test managers need to assign tests to testers, track records of the defects or need to check updates on the progress of a software testing project, test management tools have all capabilities.
