offshore test management

Bringing Offshore Testing Onshore

Making the world a smaller place

Kevin Harvey

Meet the Offshore Test Team

» How is this possible?

Objectives

» Break down social and technical barriers» Increase overall productivity» Improve quality» Reduce overall costs to the project

Misconceptions and fears

» Inefficiency – language and cultural differences» Onshore staff morale issues (will I lose my job?)» Inflexibility – fear of knowledge transfer and lose of transparency» Reduction in overall standards» Greater management headache

Approach

» Build firm foundations» Ensure a quick and secure hardware connection» Implement a robust training programme» Manage the transfer of

knowledge» Identify and test potential

risks in communication» Monitor progress closely» Incorporate scalability and

flexibility

Get the right connection

» Quick and secure» Hardware solution must be decided early in the planning stage» Data protection » Security issues» Stable remote access to the identified offshore team systems.

Sharing skills and knowledge

» Manage knowledge transfer (KT) from onshore to offshore.

» Identify key personnel in onshore team to lead KT » Benefits:» Empower onshore staff» Increase accountability for the success of KT » Successful management of client

expectations » The resultant agreed plan had a high

level of integrity

Training

» Implement a robust training programme » Training partnerships » Daily meetings » "What did you teach/learn today?"

» Benefits» Ability to quickly identify any problems » Ensure that the training programme remained on schedule.

What could go wrong?

» Identify key risk areas in communication» Are the test scripts written well? » Is the connection quick enough and easy to use? » Are the offshore team able to communicate issues effectively?

» Benefits» Ability to baseline the daily totals for the team» Early resolution of any communication issues» Proven viability of connection

Building client confidence

» Add layers of QA» Explanations» Leading to internal policing offshore» Releasing person-hours in the onshore team

» Benefits

» Issues found early

» Demonstrations of knowledge by offshore team leading to reciprocal respect between onshore and offshore.

» Additional layer of transparency for the client

Scalability and flexibility

» Training methods» Remote access» New training modules can be rolled out quickly and effectively, with

few communication errors.

Results

» Within 2 months – a working offshore team» Within 3 months – expansion of offshore team by 150%» Within 5 months – successfully integrated onshore and offshore

team» Average working day of +5 hours greatly increasing efficiency» With no significant increase in overheads» And a very happy client

Conclusions

» Build a foundation for success including a» Robust hardware connection » strong scalable training programme» range of communication pathways » managed and monitored by a stringent QA process

» Highly rewarding