Improved QA starts with Test process assessments

Assessment of a test process

Curious about how we at Foreside conduct assessments to help our clients to improve on their testing process? I’ll tell you more about that in this blog post.

Why do an assessment?
There can be various reasons to do an assessment of the test process, ranging from just a gut feeling that there’s room for improvement, to structurally struggling with test activities, or perhaps even looking for confirmation that everything is fine. An assessment of the test process helps to identify what is going well and what could be improved, in a less formal way than an audit. By involving someone external who knows a thing or two about testing (like me), you get a more objective and unbiased view of the actual situation. At Foreside, we offer informal, pragmatic and client tailored assessments to achieve this.

It’s my responsibility to conduct an assessment in such a way that follow-up is possible, because otherwise it is of little value to the client; conclusions must be concrete and recommendations must be feasible. A proper assessment structure and a clear understanding of the client’s needs and expectations help me to achieve this. There’s a big dependency on the input though, so maybe it’s even a greater responsibility to create an environment in which the people involved feel comfortable to open up and share honest input. I try to achieve this by involving them in the process and being transparent in what, why and how I do things.

The different assessment phases
The assessment can roughly be seen as three conceding main phases of activities of which the first two are closely intertwined: collecting information, processing information and presenting the outcome. They are preceded by initiation and concluded with an evaluation

1. Initiation
During initiation, the objectives, scope and timeline of the assessment are established in collaboration with the client, as well as the choice of the most suitable activities from Foreside's standard offering. Next, the client and I host a kick-off meeting with everyone involved to elaborate on the needs, objectives, scope and content of the assessment and to provide the people the opportunity to ask questions.

2. Collecting information
After the kickoff, I start with my research to understand the test process of the client and the way that is dealt with quality. For this I need (a lot of) information. This is where the different activities come in: 1-on-1 interviews, the review of documents, an online survey, the observation of meetings, group discussions or even a card game. Each activity serves the purpose of collecting information in a different way. During the activities, I also try to make people (implicitly) aware of the possible consequences of their testing process and way of working, as well as the possible gains that can be achieved, to see if they come up with ideas for change.

3. Processing information
Whilst collecting information, I process and analyze the information that I obtain. I check obtained information against each other, marking similarities and differences, and use it as input for follow-up activities. Once I’ve collected enough information, I prepare an initial draft of the high-level findings that is internally peer reviewed by one or more colleagues from Foreside to make sure that nothing important is missed. I use these findings for further investigation and to draw my conclusions, after which I formulate my recommendations for improvement. To ease the implementation, I like to be pragmatic. For this, I draw from both my own and my Foreside colleagues’ expertise and experience. Naturally, my recommendations are also peer reviewed internally before sharing them with the client.

4. Recommendations
The collection and processing of all the information results in an educated presentation of conclusions and recommendations, summarized in a report or presentation (or both). With this, the client can determine which recommendations are worth implementing to achieve the outlined gains. If desired, either myself or one of my colleagues can assist the client in implementing the improvements through (remote) support, workshops, or coaching sessions.

5. Evaluation
To wrap up the assessment, the outcome of the assessment and the process leading up to it are evaluated with the client. This to discuss whether the assessment has met expectations and if there are any improvements that can be made to future assessments.

Assessments give me energy and a challenge, because none is the same. I enjoy working with clients and their teams to discover what challenges they face and how they can overcome them. It's very rewarding to see how an assessment leads to insight and the first steps towards change.