{"id":70206,"date":"2020-01-05T15:58:43","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T15:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti_new\/?post_type=product&p=70206"},"modified":"2024-10-18T13:14:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T13:14:27","slug":"building-qa-team-with-priyanka-halder","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti_new\/resource\/podcasts\/building-qa-team-with-priyanka-halder\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a QA Team from Scratch and Achieving Seamless Functioning with Priyanka Halder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preview:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>We intend to talk about Quality Assurance where there will be an isolated\u00a0<\/span>team<\/span>\u00a0that will be responsible at the end of the cycle to make sure they catch all and the quality is high<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Whereas\u00a0<\/span>we today talk about Quality Engineering where quality is the responsibility of the whole engineering team.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You are listening to QA Talks. A podcast for quality assurance executives implementing digital transformation in their organizations. In this show, we focus on unique pitfalls inherent in quality assurance and quality engineering and how these executives are navigating them to position their organization for the future. Let\u2019s get into the show.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0<\/span>Welcome to QA Talks. I am your host Ralph\u00a0<\/span>Miranda<\/span>\u00a0and today we have a special guest \u2013 Priyanka Halder has joined us today. She has 12 years of experience in quality assurance. She is currently the senior manager of quality engineering at the\u00a0<\/span>Good<\/span>R<\/span>x<\/span>. Priyanka, thank you for joining us today.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0<\/span>Thank you so much Ralph for introducing me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0<\/span>We appreciate having you here. Of course, I am joined by my co-host Cigniti.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cigniti Speaker<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0<\/span>I am doing good Ralph, how are you?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>I am doing well. Good to have you back as well. Ok, let\u2019s get started, we have a lot to dig into. And Priyanka, you have a very interesting background & some of the things that you\u00a0<\/span>have accomplished<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I guess I\u2019ll start by asking you \u2013 tell us a bit about your journey so far & how you became involved in quality assurance & quality engineering?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Sure, I would love to share my experience. I started back in 2006 with Accenture Services\u00a0Pvt.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Ltd<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0in India after I finished my bachelor\u2019s degree & in India, it works very differently. You just get chosen for a particular department & I happened to be chosen for QA. They give you extensive training for 3 months & I went through that. Then I was placed with\u00a0<\/span>AT&T<\/span>\u00a0for my 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0project & it was like a CMMI Level 5 project so at the beginning of my career, I learned all the right things \u2013 how to do in a right way, how to do\u00a0<\/span>proper documentation<\/span>, how to handle big projects. But then when I came to USA in 2010 for my master\u2019s degree after that I kept on joining a\u00a0start up\u00a0space. I loved this space for there is so much more to contribute to. I would rather be a big entity\u00a0<\/span>in<\/span>\u00a0a small start-up than a small entity in a big company. My dynamic gave me a perspective on where to go. What correct process and team structure to implement. My journey has been quite\u00a0<\/span>interesting,<\/span>\u00a0so I had started with CM<\/span>M<\/span>I Level 5 companies & then I went to various start-ups in USA starting from Through Car,\u00a0Hommey\u00a0Inc, Heal,\u00a0Dr.<\/span>\u00a0for<\/span>\u00a0House\u00a0<\/span>call\u00a0<\/span>& now I work for\u00a0<\/span>Good<\/span>R<\/span>x<\/span>\u00a0so\u00a0ya, it has been interesting so far.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0<\/span>Well, you must be very knowledgeable because the previous bio I had on you were in the quality engineering team and now you\u2019re the head of the team, the senior manager.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0I give you kudos for that. That\u2019s awesome. Let me kind of elaborate on what you just said on your journey. I know you have worked in large enterprises, involved in\u00a0start ups.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0you\u2019ve seen a wide spectrum of organizations. So, in your view<\/span>\u00a0& what you\u2019ve been through<\/span>, how do different organizations perceive quality engineering & quality assurance?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Absolutely. Throughout my journey I have learned very different factors that affect this whole QA QE organization. Some of the points I want to touch is like it depends on how big the company is & how big their size is, what kind of product market they are into.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0I\u2019ll talk to you about Facebook. We know that Facebook never had a QA department for a long term. But then if you think about its just a social networking & they have like they have a lower staging environment where their employees are testing\u00a0<\/span>it,<\/span>\u00a0so they do\u00a0<\/span>QA,<\/span>\u00a0but their approach is different. But\u00a0<\/span>again,<\/span>\u00a0in my start-up called Heal,\u00a0Dr.\u00a0<\/span>for house<\/span>\u00a0calls it\u00a0its\u00a0like a doctor goes to your house and checks you up.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0suppose there is a bug where she\u2019s not able to\u00a0<\/span>e-<\/span>prescribe the medication or she\/he is not able to see your history, that will be catastrophic.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0there is no room for a bug in production.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0I think it all depends on what kind of product, what bug tolerance\u00a0<\/span>level they have<\/span>\u00a0& wherein their STLC lifecycle QA needs to happen but like industry has moved along in a point of few directions \u2013 we talk about shifting left, shifting right. So today in my\u00a0<\/span>current<\/span>\u00a0company, we test production by feature flagging & just opening it up for our QA team. Like there are quite a few different perspectives to achieve this. A big company doesn\u2019t mean it will have a big QA department<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Again,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>if it is a small company, it will have a\u00a0<\/span>big or\u00a0<\/span>small QA department. It all depends on how big it is, how much money they have, what the higher ups thinking about the whole QA approach & what the bug tolerance level is for the product.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>And I would have imagined that bug tolerance level is probably one of the most important ones, right?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>Absolutely. And I will give you an example of very recently happened to me. I am travelling to India & I booked through a very big airline. Instead of sending me the right check-in, they said I would be going to Bangalore instead of Calcutta. I was like my god did I book the wrong ticket and it is thousands of dollars. I cannot cancel it. But when I went & checked on their website, it was right. Their email system was not working. It\u2019s like<\/span>\u00a0fascinating<\/span>\u00a0how much bugs we see on production today like in various big companies right?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>That\u2019s amazing. I\u2019ll switch over to you. Cigniti has come\u00a0<\/span>up to<\/span>\u00a0several global\u00a0<\/span>enterprises<\/span>\u00a0in their journey towards QA transformation. You have so much experience in this area. What are the key factors that drive this transformation journey?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cigniti Speaker: <\/span><\/b>In the QA transformation journey that we\u00a0<\/span>helped<\/span>, we grow with some of the top, especially the ones from the\u00a0<\/span>F1000.<\/span>\u00a0Also, some of the key factors are management commitment for the overall transformation. I find that<\/span>, that<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>it\u00a0<\/span>is very\u00a0very\u00a0important unless it is driven from the top which\u00a0<\/span>is very unlikely that it can get the results that it needed.<\/span>\u00a0The 2<\/span>nd<\/span>\u00a0thing is to be able to communicate, communicate and communicate. Communicating about the\u00a0<\/span>why we are doing it<\/span>, what are we going to achieve<\/span>\u00a0& more importantly, celebrating the\u00a0<\/span>inter<\/span>m<\/span>ediate\u00a0<\/span>milestones while\u00a0<\/span>you keep the end objective in mind<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>& it is also very important for the team to celebrate the intermediate milestones on their journey. 3<\/span>rd<\/span>\u00a0thing is that the transformation journey would have to go through a lot of change which needs to happen in the way we do think & any change induces a lot of uncertainty which troubles a lot of individuals.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0it is very important we fully explain to the team what we are doing, why we are doing &\u00a0<\/span>rather<\/span>\u00a0than taking this as an uncertainty,\u00a0<\/span>&\u00a0<\/span>lot of transformation journey that individuals can benefit a lot from this journey as opposed to being fearful about it. Those are some of the things that we generally experience in the QA transformation journey.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Let me take it down<\/span>\u00a0to microlevel<\/span>\u00a0& ask you if you can talk about 2 or 3\u00a0<\/span>tangible benefits that organizations have gained by partnering with you on this journey<\/span>?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cigniti Speaker: <\/span><\/b>I would say that some of the benefits<\/span>\u00a0have achieved<\/span>\u00a0would include defect leakage into production like the ones that Priyanka was talking about\u00a0<\/span>the ones t<\/span>hat are experienced by the end users<\/span>\u00a0in case of a consumer facing organization<\/span>. That is very important.\u00a0<\/span>We were<\/span>\u00a0able to work\u00a0<\/span>with<\/span>\u00a0organization<\/span>s in reducing their<\/span>\u00a0post production\u00a0defect<\/span>\u00a0density<\/span>\u00a0to a really low level. Another benefit is that trying to find defects earlier in the lifecycle which in the technical term is called shift<\/span>–<\/span>left so if you can find defects that are cheaper, they are not only cheaper to find, they are also cheaper to fix. Another is to\u00a0<\/span>drive down their overall testing cost while a<\/span>t the same time improving the overall test coverage, the\u00a0<\/span>cost reduction is<\/span>\u00a0primarily issued through the innovation & methodology that we bring to the table.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Priyanka, you have been involved in building QA teams from scratch.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0you\u2019ve started from square 1.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0what are the key things that you look<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to in the process of building a team from the start?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Sure. I have a\u00a0<\/span>3-step<\/span>\u00a0strategy that I usually follow. 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0is whenever I join a company & I have been given a task to create a\u00a0<\/span>brand-new<\/span>\u00a0team, I 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0learn what are their\u00a0<\/span>botttlenecks<\/span>, why was their QA team not successful before why they never had a QA team & why they are thinking to bring in a QA team. 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0few weeks will be learning & jotting down points & also jotting down what resources they have. Do they have developers who are motivated to test by themselves, do they need software developers\u00a0<\/span>in test\u00a0<\/span>who can pair up with the developers & be their extra hand, do they need release QA team to make the releases\u00a0more faster. Coming up with this strategy & next what I do is run POCs. Maybe I\u2019ll come up with 3 or 4 approaches. So OK, maybe we will do a\u00a0<\/span>24-hour<\/span>\u00a0cycle, we will have an offshore team or maybe we will have an extended team which will not be on site, which will be temporary to see how the vibe of the team is. I do POCs\u00a0<\/span>even\u00a0<\/span>on automation efforts as well so whenever we are choosing a particular framework or a particular\u00a0<\/span>tool,<\/span>\u00a0we run POCs for 30\/60 days & then once we are confirmed that\u00a0ya, this is the approach we want to take,<\/span>\u00a0and this is going to be successful,<\/span>\u00a0then next we go\u00a0<\/span>just go\u00a0<\/span>on scal<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0in a larger\u00a0<\/span>term<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0its\u00a0a simple 3 step strategy. The 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0step is\u00a0learn\u00a0from the previous mistakes,\u00a0<\/span>failures<\/span>, 2<\/span>nd<\/span>\u00a0is do POC for 30-60 days & 3<\/span>rd<\/span>\u00a0then just scale on the success of POC.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Excellent.\u00a0<\/span>Let\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0touch a little bit on\u00a0<\/span>crowd<\/span>\u00a0testing. I have a feeling that that doesn\u2019t mean going out on a parade & asking questions to people. Give us 3 benefits that one can achieve from\u00a0<\/span>crowd<\/span>\u00a0testing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0one will be pricing. It<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s way cheaper than having 40 people on your team. I have worked with various\u00a0<\/span>different sized\u00a0<\/span>start ups\u00a0& 1 such was\u00a0Hommey\u00a0& it was only 10 people team<\/span>\u00a0and a pre-seed phase<\/span>. The budget was tight. So that time I did crowd sourcing team & the cost we achieved through this team was significant cost reduction. 2<\/span>nd<\/span>\u00a0is huge coverage on devices & browsers.\u00a0<\/span>Crowd<\/span>\u00a0testing\u00a0<\/span>works the way such\u00a0<\/span>as invite<\/span>\u00a0100-200 people & maybe 40 people will come up & test your application. Having 40 eyes looking at your application & trying on different devices in a really short period of time,\u00a0its\u00a0like amazing. & you\u2019ll find like lot of bugs which will be very difficult with 2 or 3 people. & then\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0scaling\u00a0<\/span>part<\/span>\u00a0of it \u2013 if you want to scale your team fast, I think adding\u00a0<\/span>crowdsourced testing<\/span>\u00a0angle to it helps you to achieve that speed way faster than anything else at an awesome cost.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Interesting. L<\/span>ets\u00a0take it up to the macro level. I understand you are investing quite a bit these days in IP\u00a0<\/span>&\u00a0<\/span>innovation. How that helps in the QA transformation journey<\/span>\u00a0that we\u2019ve been discussing<\/span>?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cigniti Speaker: <\/span><\/b>I\u2019ll say that what is that most of the time<\/span>, right now<\/span>\u00a0we are surveying about 200 plus\u00a0<\/span>active clients as an<\/span>\u00a0organization & we have been doing this more than a decade. We have probably dealt<\/span>\u00a0with and seen<\/span>\u00a0many different problems in the testing space & came up with our own solution.\u00a0<\/span>Many\u00a0<\/span>times,<\/span>\u00a0what we find is that the organizations are facing problems but the existing tools\u00a0<\/span>that could<\/span>\u00a0be commercial tools or open source tools\u00a0<\/span>are\u00a0<\/span>not able to solve. That is why we start developing our own tools, utilities & sometimes methodologies over a period of time. What we found out is that while the problems are\u00a0<\/span>little bit unique for each\u00a0<\/span>client,<\/span>\u00a0but we also see that the<\/span>re is a pattern\u00a0<\/span>in some of th<\/span>es<\/span>e problems that we are solving.\u00a0<\/span>To address that, we sort of productized s<\/span>ome of the tools,\u00a0<\/span>utilities, &\u00a0<\/span>methodologies<\/span>\u00a0that we had built<\/span>\u00a0& package<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0all of these under one name, that is,\u00a0<\/span>BlueSwan<\/span>. It is basically\u00a0<\/span>the testing IP that\u00a0Cigniti\u00a0has packaged &\u00a0<\/span>to help organizations\u00a0<\/span>achieve<\/span>\u00a0their digital transformation journey<\/span>\u00a0& also accelerate their DevOps journey<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>As part of\u00a0BlueSwan<\/a>, w<\/span>e have different components that can help in\u00a0<\/span>different<\/span>\u00a0aspects of testing \u2013 it could be test automation, digital testing, establishing quality management system & putting together quality management<\/span>\u00a0dashboard<\/span>\u00a0at the enterprise level. These are some of the areas which we have\u00a0<\/span>developed\u00a0<\/span>all of these<\/span>\u00a0IP<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>OK. Priyanka, I have seen every organization is driving for- whether it is QA or sales & marketing, its seamless functioning anytime you try to bring groups or organizations together, you want to bring it in a seamless fashion.\u00a0<\/span>How do you think quality engineering & the efforts in that field can help teams bring innovative approach towards that seamless function?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Absolutely. I 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0want to touch upon what quality engineering means to the organization. From a long time, we used to talk about quality assurance where there will be an isolated\u00a0<\/span>team<\/span>\u00a0which will be responsible at the end of the cycle to make sure they\u00a0<\/span>are\u00a0<\/span>catch all and the quality is high whereas we today talk about Quality Engineering<\/a> where quality is the responsibility of the whole engineering team<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0starting from developer who does the happy path testing\u00a0<\/span>where<\/span>\u00a0we are<\/span>\u00a0shifting left, they are<\/span>\u00a0running automation test\u00a0<\/span>in their Dev environment\u00a0<\/span>before giving it to the quality engineer. Then we have\u00a0<\/span>brought up to a UAT,<\/span>\u00a0where they are coming up & are making sure their requirements are met.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>working in a cohesive manner as a whole engineering team, achieves a quality engineering<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>It achieves quality as a whole engineering dept.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seamless functioning comes when everyone does their part \u2013 the developers are doing their happy path testing, the testers are doing their HKs & cross browsers & the product is doing their UAT & then we have a laid out process like how in\u00a0a\u00a0AGILE environment, we are achieving it faster with help\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>some tools like J<\/span>i<\/span>ra\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0testrail\u00a0<\/span>where everybody knows what next<\/span>\u00a0is<\/span>\u00a0going to happen. Everybody in that particular AGILE team like developers, testers or product owner knows exactly what\u2019s going to happen next. Only that way we can achieve\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>seamless functioning.\u00a0<\/span>I just want to reiterate on Cigniti point that quality engineering has to come from bottom up. Its a culture & only one department won\u2019t be able to <\/span>foresee<\/span>\u00a0it. Also, there is nothing like 100% bug-free product. Go through my Twitter profile\u00a0everyday\u00a0I post bugs on production like for big companies &\u00a0its\u00a0fascinating. How people think that just\u00a0<\/span>having<\/span>\u00a0a QA department can give them a\u00a0<\/span>unicorn\u00a0<\/span>product without bug.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Right, interesting. Well, this has been a fascinating episode with lots of great information<\/span>\u00a0& nuggets<\/span>\u00a0for other organizations to take away.\u00a0<\/span>Priyanka<\/span>\u00a0give me the final word.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Priyanka:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>I think in quality space we have achieved significant progress in a couple of years like there<\/span>\u00a0are so many new terms like<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>shift left<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>shift right<\/span>, test more, quality engineering but at the end of the day,\u00a0its\u00a0a whole company approach & I am very glad to be a part of this journey.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralph:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>We are glad to have you as a part of our journey on QA Talks. We appreciate that our guest today\u00a0<\/span>has<\/span>\u00a0been Priyanka Halder, she\u2019s the senior manager of quality\u00a0<\/span>engineering<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>at\u00a0Good<\/span>R<\/span>x\u00a0<\/span>& we certainly appreciate her for joining us & my co-host, all the way so\u00a0<\/span>far<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Quality Assurance is vital to an organization\u2019s success in digital transformation. Lack of control can quickly derail a company\u2019s technological presence, costing thousands. At\u00a0Cigniti, all the solution is to build a better world with better quality software. Renowned for the global thought leadership in the industry, we try expertise from over a decade of test engineering experience across verticals. To learn how we do it, visit Cigniti.com.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You have been listening to QA Talks. To ensure you never miss any episode, subscribe to the show in your\u00a0favorite\u00a0podcast player. Thank you so much for listening until next time.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speakers:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Priyanka Halder<\/strong>, senior manager of quality engineering at GoodRx; Cigniti (A Coforge Company) Speaker<\/b>
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