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Many companies outsource their software development projects in today’s world, where technology is advancing at light speed. Over 70% of the world’s largest companies outsource their software testing team.
A large community of software testers could help your business grow by bringing valuable insights into your product development process. Naturally, ensuring a great relationship with your remote testing team is essential. The first step towards that goal is honesty.
- When staffing a project with a remote team, be upfront about the expectations and what you are willing to commit regarding time, resources, and responsibility. It will allow everyone involved to be on the same page.
- Be honest about your expectations for their time commitments. If some specific days or hours are more convenient for your team members’ schedules, let them know what those particular times are so they can plan accordingly. For example, they may have children whose activities they need to plan around or want to take a day off.
Know what you want to achieve with remote testing.
Before you begin, understand what you want to achieve with remote software testing. Your goals should be specific and measurable, such as “improve the test coverage of our product” or “reduce feature abandonment rates.”
In addition to setting your own goals, remember that there may be multiple goals for a given individual or organization. For example:
- Company A may value a reduction in bug counts over anything else (which could lead them to favor automated tools over manual testing).
- Company B might emphasize reducing rework more than increasing efficiency.
Find the best persona for a remote software testing team
When hiring for a remote software testing team, finding the best person for the job is essential. This means finding someone who will fit the team, the role, and the project well.
To have a successful project, you need to have an effective onboarding process that helps these new hires become productive members of your organization as quickly as possible.
Make communication clear and frequent.
Communication is the key to a successful remote software testing team. You and your team members need to be able to communicate with each other clearly and frequently. Ensure that everyone knows how, how often, and what they will be sharing.
Also, make sure they understand what type of feedback or information is appropriate at different stages during the project lifecycle (i.e., not everything needs to be communicated between testers and developers daily).
For example, a developer has successfully implemented a change into production code, so it’s time for QA Lead on this project to have an update meeting with the QA Analyst/Developer Relationships Manager/Quality Assurance Director, etc.
Provide access to all necessary resources.
First, provide your remote software testing team with all the necessary resources. Ensure they have access to the right tools – such as virtual machines or cloud-based file storage systems, and people in other departments who can answer questions about anything from project management to code reviews.
They will also need access to documentation to learn more about the product’s features and functionality, but don’t forget about information that may be useful for testing purposes.
Finally, each member of your remote software testing team must have access to data explicitly related to their assigned tasks; this ensures they’re fully prepared when it comes time for them to begin working on their assignments.
Establish a transparent process for feedback and sharing insights.
The team needs to know how they can provide feedback and who they should report to if they encounter any issues that aren’t covered by the standard process.
Document the onboarding process so it can be easily referred to in case anyone forgets their responsibilities or gets confused about some part of their role on the team.
Finally, review your onboarding process frequently to adjust and eliminate steps that are no longer necessary (or even counterproductive).
Assign a single point of contact (SPOC) within your company
When working with a remote software testing team, assigning a single point of contact (SPOC) within your company is essential. The SPOC should be responsible for communicating with the remote team, answering questions, and helping them understand how they can best contribute to the project. They should also act as an intermediary between your company and the remote testing team by bridging gaps between their two cultures.
The ideal candidate for this role is someone who can communicate both verbally and in writing well but isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty when it comes to coding or debugging issues on the front line!
Try to set up meetings at reasonable times.
When setting up meetings, try to make them as convenient as possible for all parties involved. If you have a meeting scheduled at 10 AM EST and one of your team members has an early morning flight, they can let you know beforehand so the meeting can be rescheduled.
On the other hand, if someone on your team works in Europe, it might be best to schedule their meetings after 2 PM EST when it’s nighttime in their time zone.
You should also be open to video calls instead of face-to-face meetings to accommodate remote people or unable to travel because they’re too busy with other projects/tasks/schedules etc.
Communication is crucial and can save you a lot of headaches when hiring a remote software testing team, but make sure they are also equipped with the right tools, resources, and knowledge needed to do their job well.
It is also the foundation of a good relationship, which makes it essential for successful software testing. It allows both sides to be on the same page, so there won’t be any misunderstandings or expectations that are not met.
If you are looking to hire a remote software testing team, be sure to take these tips into account. This will help ensure that your project runs smoothly and everyone stays happy throughout its lifespan. If you follow these steps and keep communication lines open with your remote team, then there is no reason why things shouldn’t go well!
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