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By considering the performance of in-development software from the perspective of the end user, QA teams can better address disruptive issues.
Software testing can often be an arduous and stressful process. Even in traditional waterfall production methods, quality assurance teams are typically faced with a months-long period colloquially known as the "death march" as developments near release. During these moments, QA management and teams hunker down and toil away, attempting to address as many remaining coding flaws as possible before the software goes into production. The proliferation of agile development principles has only escalated this trend as QA members are constantly working to identify areas of improvement during the entire course of development.
It's understandable if QA objectives become a little shortsighted under these conditions and testers place all of their focus on finding bugs and coding errors. However, testing managers need to remain cognizant of the ultimate goal of any successful development process: optimizing the end user experience.
QA performance cannot be measured by the number of bug reports generated, but by the satisfaction of software users following a product's release. To that end, it is advantageous to consider the viewpoint of the consumer and incorporate user feedback into the development process. |
