Introduction
As a QA tester, your primary focus is reporting issues and ensuring customer satisfaction. But let’s be real, success doesn’t just depend on your testing skills. It’s also about how well your team collaborates with the development team. The interactions between Dev-QA teams can get tricky if there’s a lack of cooperation, and things can quickly go off track.
So, how can you make sure the relationship between Dev-QA teams remains smooth even when things don’t go according to plan? Well, let’s talk about fostering better cooperation.
Your Dev-QA teams need cooperation. How to foster it?
The Dev-QA relationship is crucial because the testing process is directly impacted by the development team’s workflow. However, when two teams have different goals, misunderstandings are bound to happen. Developers write the code to address functions based on the initial requirements, while QA testers focus on improving the product’s overall quality. Though these teams are independent, the success of both relies on mutual collaboration and understanding.
Fostering cooperation between Dev-QA teams is primarily the responsibility of the management team. Open communication and transparency are key; otherwise, you’ll just end up with a situation where both teams are blaming each other for delays and blockers. That’s not helpful for anyone.
Main signs of a healthy work environment
Wondering if your Dev-QA environment is supporting collaboration or hindering progress? Here are some signs that things are on track:
1. Each team understands and respects each other's roles and responsibilities.
For any project to succeed, both teams need to understand and respect each other’s roles. Sometimes, as a QA tester, you might not be able to start testing immediately because the development team needs time to finish their work. Similarly, testers should recognize that developers will be working within certain constraints when addressing bugs or issues. A little patience and understanding go a long way.
2. Collaboration is done through flexible communication tools.
The best Dev-QA teams are the ones that can quickly reach out to anyone when needed. While tools like Slack are often the go-to for quick communication, other platforms like Trello can also help organize tasks and track progress. Make sure you’re updating the status of your tasks regularly and adding any new information that could affect others. It’s all about keeping the communication channels open and clear.
3. Upper management makes sure that every team member gets visibility.
Effective communication isn’t just about chatting with your immediate team. Upper management should ensure that every team member has visibility, meaning they’re able to share feedback and raise concerns. If testers have issues or blockers, they need to speak up early. It’s important that management fosters an environment where testers can ask for clarification without fear of slowing down the process. If things aren’t clear, it’s only going to cause delays; and in turn, frustration.
4. Client goals are a priority!
At the end of the day, everyone is working toward the same goal: delivering a product that meets the client’s expectations. This means, at any given moment, Dev-QA teams should be aligned with the client’s needs. Including stakeholders from the very beginning helps ensure that there’s always a clear understanding of the objectives. When things aren’t going according to plan, it’s the Product Manager or Product Owner’s job to act as a mediator and keep everything on track.
What to do as a QA if you face too many blockers?
Our work environment fosters cooperation between Dev-QAs, so things run smoothly. And if they don’t, we resolve any issues professionally. Below you can see an example of a situation involving upper management.
Both of the project’s PMs pushed for testing to be done on a couple of stories. Still, the QA team couldn’t go any further because of blockers: the development team was not finished with their internal testing of the feature, even though it was assigned and updated as Ready for Testing. Initially, we tried communicating the issue directly to the development team, but since the response was not satisfactory, we clarified things with the PM.
Conversation with the lead dev of this feature:
After sharing the conversation with the upper management, here’s the answer we got:
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