The future of software testing calls for broader profiles. Nico Liedl sees two paths: the SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test), a tester with developer skills who builds the automation, and coaching roles that carry quality into the whole team. In his environment, the quality engineer is taking over from the test manager.
Nico Liedl is a quality engineer and advisor who focuses on agile quality management, test automation, process improvement and organizational change. He has worked on a number of complex large-scale projects as a team member, Scrum Master, test strategist, release manager and trainer, so he brings both hands-on experience and theory, and he wants to share that experience with a wide audience. As a conference speaker and author of articles, he stays in close touch with the agile testing community.
The software world is changing. Technology moves at a breathtaking pace, and the way we work keeps shifting too. One thing is clear: both technology and the working environment have a massive impact on quality and software testing. Think AI, AR, blockchain and quantum computing, or remote work, agility, digitalization and New Work.
The Challenges Ahead for Software Testing
The key is to actually pull off the agile transformation and make a real switch to new ways of working. Most projects are right in the middle of that process.
Ideas and Solutions for These Challenges
We need to approach these topics sensibly and develop solutions for them. Right now, teams still have to do a lot of the work themselves, because there aren’t any proven, reusable assets yet.
Our HoaQ model can help here. Start by focusing on the basics. Then build solid structures, and after that the roof can be extended with lean quality management, which covers topics such as AI, AR, blockchain and quantum computing. In my view, there’s still a lot of untapped potential here.
What the Future of Software Testing Looks Like
Technology and the speed that comes with it will keep driving us. As testers, we’ll have to keep stretching ourselves, and new roles such as the SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) help us keep up with all of it.
The other area is coaching. Through dedicated coaching roles and the training that goes with them, quality and the right methods need to be rolled out to entire teams. The team has to carry shared responsibility and accept it as a matter of course.
Once these roles are in place, you can set off on the journey with the right subject matter experts. How do you get there? There are fewer and fewer assets you can reuse. Solutions increasingly have to be tailored to and developed for each individual environment.
How Testers and Test Managers Can Prepare Today
Working in a truly agile environment is a must.
It matters to get rid of projects that only pretend to work the new way but are still stuck in waterfall.
The test manager title should be retired, because you can’t live New Work with that kind of label. In my environment, quality engineers are the people who genuinely aim for self-organized work and personal responsibility in the team.
In the end, responsibility has to be shared, and the quality engineer makes sure that sharing it doesn’t create extra effort or duplicate work. They resolve overlaps and use continuous improvement to move projects toward the ideal.
About the Book: House of Agile Quality
Toni Morrison once said: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
So that’s what we did. Who hasn’t struggled with combining quality assurance and testing with agile or even scaled agile methods? We certainly have!
Because we kept seeing this gap in project after project, we started developing the “House of Agile Quality” (HoaQ) concept. The proven, pragmatic HoaQ framework has already helped many companies master the challenges of large solution delivery. On the one hand, HoaQ fills the gap between agile frameworks and test frameworks. On the other, it bridges the strategic and tactical levels of lean quality management.
