The advent of Agile has changed a lot of things in software development and testing. To achieve greater quality in less time, teams have to be more proactive than ever, which makes the test manager’s job more challenging. Over the years, the role of test manager has evolved:
- From managing to enabling teams
- From testing to coaching
- From managing testers to managing tests
- From documentation to making strategy
- From accountability to facilitating communication
Test managers have a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders. They are responsible for achieving test objectives by capturing customer data and translating it into insightful product recommendations. Test managers need to understand the priorities and politics of multiple departments as their role requires them to negotiate between teams. Test managers have to ensure that the stakeholders are unified in their objectives and satisfied with the reliability and consistency of incoming feedback.
Test Management Tools
With so many responsibilities, test managers need a helping hand, or to be more precise, they need a test management tool. In simple words, test management tools help test managers monitor testing activities and keep an organized log of all the issues. These tools ensure effective communication between teams and significantly boost testing productivity. Let’s learn in detail about how test managers can benefit from these tools.
Improved Software Quality
The goal of every development team is to build software that completely satisfies the customer. Test management tools ensure that by enabling testers to pinpoint the location of important bugs, by telling how certain features work and where the team needs to focus more. Test managers can then use this information to provide further instructions to the teams.
Dashboard
There are several departments in a software development firm, all of which have their data that needs to be managed carefully. Whichever the department is, the prime goal is to facilitate the healthy development of software. With a seamless dashboard, everyone can place all the vital information in one place and let instant access to critical information. It gives test managers the authority to monitor team performance and see in real-time who is working on what, and what projects are currently in progress.
Scalable Environment
Software development needs to be in line with current market trends when scaling and enhancing functions. To make this happen, test managers need to ensure that things at the backend run smoothly. Most of the test management tools come with expanding options such as unlimited test runs, unlimited test cases, unlimited project inclusion, and accommodation of multiple users. This creates a scalable environment and keeps the window of scope always open.
Manage Access Permissions
Software development involves programmers, testers, coders, designers, content creators, and many more. Certain things in the development process might not be necessary for others to view. Test management tools allow managers to control who gets to access what, based on employee roles.
Security of Test Data
When managers can limit the access, they are, in a way, securing their data. Cloud security is an important aspect on which most of the tools emphasize to keep organizations safe from scams and breaches.
Repetitive Work Minimized
Repetition of work occurs when two or more persons are working on the same thing. It wastes valuable time and negatively affects productivity. Test managers can avoid this from happening by leveraging capable tools that inform testers and developers about the bugs that are being worked on.
Boosted Team Productivity
Productivity contributes to the growth in output, an increase in sales, and boosts team morale. Successful managers take a proactive rather than a reactive approach and this reflects in their teams. Test management tools make use of automation more and resources less, which gives ample space for the entire team to focus on goals and enhance their productivity.
Integration
Most management tools are designed to adapt and integrate with various other platforms to deliver better test results, run quality test cases, and detect bugs. With various acclaimed industry players like Kualitee, Jira, Slack, etc. in place for integration, it’s all about finding the right fit to collaborate.
Bug Detection
Bugs can have serious consequences. Development and testing teams spend a lot of time to find and eliminate bugs, yet many of them make it to the final product. But if your recipe of a bug-free application doesn’t include the essential ingredient i.e. a test management tool, your dish won’t be a delectable one. These tools simplify the bug identification process and shorten the time required by testers to pinpoint bugs and developers to fix them.
Real-Time Reporting
Development is not easy. It requires a lot of tests and assessments with immediate and continuous up-gradation whenever required. Real-time reporting allows test managers to analyze and understand the workflow. Getting valuable and relevant information out of tons of data is key here.
Conclusion
The above benefits explain the significance of a good test management tool. Test managers need to select a tool that satisfies the company’s testing requirements. Some of the core qualities managers must look for in a tool are integration, flexibility, task tracking and assignment, and traceability. It is important to note that neither a test management tool nor test manager can replace one another – both have their significance.
