Rose Island

In 1968, the Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa decided to get away from everything, especially bureaucracy, and what he saw as too many rules and regulations. He built a platform in the Adriatic Sea, 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) off the coast of the province of Rimini, Italy, and moved to live on it, even declaring independence…
The story of the Republic of Rose Island is a true story. It’s a fascinating story: the way it was built, how it grew and got world-wide attention, and how the Italian government reacted (well… hysteria and violence). And you can now watch Netflix’s new movie, based on the story of this micronation island.

Software testing island

And nowadays, aren’t you feeling sometimes like you’re on an isolated island? As in most countries around the world, we all have to work in capsules, or even from home. This means we can, at best, meet only with our own group (testing team), or worse – with no one.
How can we work towards our software project goals, and specifically our testing project goals, if we cannot work with colleagues, meet to discuss and plan, exchange views and report progress? We wrote before how important it is to work closely with all of the project members (designers, developers, users, etc.), but the reality we face challenges us to benefit from this new situation.
Other than all of those workarounds for remote work, such as video calls, e-meetings, extensive use of online sharing tools (for files, data), digital communication tools, remote server access, etc. – other than these – there’s also a change in approach that we can adopt for this period of time. Namely, to use the isolation of our testing group to our advantage:

  • Serenity: There are no interferences in the ongoing work. No internal requests to assist or help with other projects, or issues, and the group can be focused, therefore efficient and productive.
  • Agility: There’s probably more room to move towards shorter sprints, faster testing for smaller code changes. You ask, and get, specific items to test for changes and additions done today, and you give a testing report back immediately.
  • Bias: Testers are less influenced (or biased) by the developers and less affected by the pressure of managers.

Software testing efficiency in Covid19 Environment

Many, or most, industries are going through major changes due to Covid19. This affects software projects, of course, where for some industries the costs will be the main issue (flight, travel), but for others it will be the speed of time-to-market (health, tech). In both cases, software testing groups should get busy improving their testing so that they are more efficient, faster and cost-effective.
Obviously, this is something we are always looking for and trying to achieve. However, in the new reality we’re facing, more emphasize should be put towards these goals.

How can we improve our testing team’s efficiency in such an environment, and the restrictions we are facing?
Here are a few ideas:

  • Focus on the process of communication between testers and other project members:
    • Make sure that the task definition – what to test, testing schedules, the goals, etc. are well documented and defined (for example, in Testuff you can create lab, with time targets and criteria for test completion). Take advantage of the time you have, get this done and use the right tool to manage it all.
    • Ensure that the bug reporting process, bug fixing by developers, and fix approvals by testers – all are managed, documented and can be monitored on an ongoing basis.
  • Focus on improving the bug reporting process to the developer, without the need for calls and other lengthy communication. That is:
    • Always consider how to report the defect, making sure it is easy to reproduce (step-to-reproduce, screenshots, and better yet – a short video).
    • Add a video file as a mandatory step in the process of reporting defects (therefore, use testing tools that have a recorder option).
    • Quick turnaround of handling the key reports, to avoid “I don’t remember what we’re talking about” situations.
  • Transparency towards the company in terms of the testing team benchmarks, perhaps even getting suggestions on how to improve them.

Surely, there are many surprises ahead of us. With Covid19 still hitting the world hard, even with the start of the vaccination project, there will be ramifications on all aspects of life – economy included. Industries and companies, who wish to survive, will need to adapt quickly to these changes, and to learn to adjust to fast-changing environments. For some it will even be an opportunity to grow and flourish. In any case, software projects and software testing projects, are no different, though they seem to be the most prepared for the new demands of the new era.

Stay Safe!