Re: Outsourcing in QA and Testing

> Dear Moderator,

there's no moderator for this list

> I want to hear from CTO, Directors of QA and VP Engineering
> friends in this list regarding their experiences with outsourced
> QA and Testing.

some of questions below are not really relevant for this group or any
w3c groups in fact, like asking to criticize companies and products.
 
> a. Has outsourcing QA and Testing been a productive experience?

that's a good one. I don't have any experience in doing so but I have
experience in doing the QA in house and I valued the proximity of the
QA team a lot (I was a developer and my wife was in QA :-)

in the context of W3C QA, we're pushing for inhouse QA development,
with the W3C WG in the close loop. at least, we want the WG to be in
control of the final result, which I guess work in the outsourcing
model as well.

note that we have situations today that are of outsourcing nature:
tests for w3c specs developed outside the group, and we're trying to
formalize how this work in the QA framework, which I welcome you read.

> b. Did you save costs while maintaining the timeliness of your product 
> deliverables?
> c. Which companies you found did a good job for you?
> d. Which country did you outsource to? Ireland, Canada, Israel, India, 
> China or other

can't tell

> e. Was the time difference a hurdle for team communication?

that I can tell you yes outside the QA outsourcing context: W3C is a
worldwide organization and the time difference makes all the
difficulties in communication and coordination harder.

> f. Was language an issue in communication?

that too I can comment: yes it is. most americans are not trained to
talk at ESL (English as Second Language) speed, and that sometimes
become a big issue, one that usually doesn't surface in an open crisis
but more in people not participating in WG telecon or f2f because they
just don't understand what is being said 100%, or even 60%.  irc helps
a lot here.

> g. What type of testing did you successfully outsource?  Blackbox? 
>  Unit?  Functional?  Load?  Regression?
> h. Did you completely replace your QA department or did you use 
> outsourcing as an extension?

can't tell

> i. Did you require the QA and testing people to have computer science or 
> software background?

yes (not particularly in outsourcing again)

> j. Which standards bodies did you find most relevant to your QA and 
> testing?  ISO?  ASQC?

none

Received on Friday, 12 April 2002 09:18:39 UTC