What did the OO’s decade give us.It gave us Web 2.0 and with that a new set of challenges for testing those 2.0 applications.So far 2.0 was mainly adopted by small or medium size companies,but enterprises have realized the potential of the community aspect of 2.0 and have started moving towards 2.0.This Mckinsey report(sub reqd) and a peek into your own enterprises future plans will tell you how it’s changing.You might have already started hearing words such as Ajax,Flex from your development side.
First of all what would Enterprise 2.0 change.Well the short answer is everything from corporate culture,best practices,tools and technologies.So what will Testing need to support
1)Collaboration
It’s important that QA collaborates with development,product management more than ever.Collaboration within the QA team also needs to be better than ever.Tools and technologies need to be shared,Common reporting mechanisms need to be implemented.
2)Testing of mashups
Instead of being a standalone application,applications will consist of multiple standalone applications.QA will have to update their processes on how this applications will be tested and testing scenarios will need a rethink keeping this in mind.
3)Agility for constant changes
Best in class test management and change management will be needed to support the agility through rest of the organization.QA cannot be a bottleneck in supporting agility.Automation is imminent and continuous feedback is important more than ever.Integration with version control/build engine will be absolutely necessary.
4)Lack of clear requirements
The dictum that requirements are frozen will be redundant in 2.0 environment and QA will have to understand the fact that requirements will constantly change getting the software to change.
5)Defect Analysis and Cause Identification
Defects analysis(post defect discovery activity) needs to happen more frequently and cause identified quickly.This will require QA to do their own investigation and supply as much information to the defect as possible.QA will not only have to find defects but also play a pro-active role in identifying the cause as well as possible solutions.
6)Rapid release cycles with overall reduced time to market
In addition the testing team will have to deal with the fact that testing environment will be distributed and community driven.QA teams would be global and roles would be fuzzy.QA organizations will have to adapt to this changing environment and also have their tools of trade(test management,defect tracking) updated to reflect this changes.
It would be interesting to know if your organization is already seeing/facing the issues and what are the changes that your QA organization making to adapt to this change.