Roman Yakymchuk is a QA consultant with 9 years of experience who provides QA process optimization services. He recommends using exploratory testing approaches, simplifying processes, automating repeatable tasks, and communicating effectively between teams. Key advice includes taking part in discussions early, learning about competitors, automating only worthwhile tasks, and sharing knowledge to prevent issues from a single person's absence. The goal of QA should be to prevent bugs rather than just find them.

1. QA Process Optimization
written on real cases from Roman Y experience

2. About Me
● Roman Yakymchuk - CEO at
RYConsulting (QA SaaS agency)
● Founder of QABlog
● Founder of UkrainQA
● QA Consultant
● QA Jedi
● Happy father and lovely husband

3. Why do you need to believe me?
● I have 9 years of experience in Quality Assurance
● I have 30 000 hours of experience in Testing
● Last 2,5 years I have been working as QA Consultant
● Quality Assurance it is not only job - it’s a hobby
● I have mentored 30 people which are now on different positions
from Juniors to QA Tech Leads
● I have experience in QA coaching 7 years and educated more than
250 hundreds of people
● I finished more than 10 QA advanced level courses and workshops

4. How to prevent a bug in your product?
● Try Quality Assurance 😉
● Use Exploratory Testing approaches 🌏
● Try to simplify all you can and script everything possible 📝
● Do not do repeatable actions more than 3 times - Automate it 🤖
● Use Test Analysis and Test Design techniques 🤖🤖🎨
● Try to use UX knowledges to make product better for your end user 🤖
💻
● Communicate a lot where needed and Stop talking Start doing 👷♂️🤖👷
♀️
● Never believe developers, always listen to them and then recheck 🤖
● Do knowledge sharing to prevent Bus factors 🚌

5. Quality Assurance
● Take part in all discussions with BA’s, PM’s, Designer’s, Developer’s,
Architect’s and other people who knows more about your product
● Learn products of your competitors and use this knowledge in
comparison
● Learn carefully all the information about your current or future features
● Ask questions and propose improvements before development starts
● Ask end user their opinions on use cases you are going to implement
● Gather info about all the product and make Mind Maps
● Understand all dependencies between feature your team does and all
other features teams

6. Exploratory Testing
● Use Session Based approach together with Test Charters
● Use Pair Based approach together with all team members
● Use State & Transition Diagrams and Tables
● Use Testing Tours approach
● Use 6 Thinking Hats approach
● Use User Profile Testing approach
● Use Feature Dependencies Table

7. Simplicity and Scripting
● Use Checklists instead of Test Caees
● Use Mind Maps instead of Test suites
● Use State Analysis to prevent actions duplication
● Use tools: Chrome developers tool, bug magnet, screen and video
recorders, file comparison tools aka scripting of routines, chats with
all the QA’s, chat with developers, chat with BA’s, PM’s, Designers for
faster response on uncleared questions
● Use Task/Bug tracking system
● Use wiki to keep all needed info in one place available for everyone
● Use templates for Bugs use HLD diagrams and DB schemes

8. Automation is a Tool not replacement of humans Mind
● Use Automation only when it useful and when it saves time of
manual tester
● Use automation carefully and do not repeat yourself (optimise,
inherit and make it independent)
● Use CI/CD
● Use reporting
● Cover API, E2E flows and all most priority cases first
● Make automation work on you and not working on automation!

9. Test Analysis and Test Design
● Use Test analysis to prevent your system be over complicated
● Use Equivalent classes and Boundary values not to miss stupid
human errors
● Use Test combinatorics, Pairwise and Decision tables to decrease
amount of checks
● State & Transitions Diagrams and Tables to cover all possible
corner cases
● Brainstorming with your team and other teams or QA’s to generate
more test ideas
● Feature Dependencies Table to choose right Regression scopes

10. Usability Knowledge
● Learn other products
● Compare with your
● Report difficult user interfaces interaction
● Ask your Users for their opinions and gather feedbacks
● Read books about usability and use different approaches for UX
testing
● Spend more time with design teams - it is good for your understanding
and you can influence on some moments

11. Communication is a key of Successful products
● Know zones of responsibilities
● Ask in time
● Answer only on the asked questions
● Share all you knowledge with all your team members
● Delegate tasks on the right persons
● Be creative and say everything you think will be useful to the product
● If you can ask one time to save a lot of your time on investigation of
some questions, please do ask
● Better to do something and show the result, than tell everybody and do
not have time for the doing your job

12. Never believe anybody
● Remember one thing the truth is there where everybody on the same
page
● Believe in yourself, but do not forget to pray to the Lord of Quality
● 2 people are good but 3 heads is always better
● Listen to everybody who understands the context but recheck after
● Copy Paste carefully and remember one thing - Repetition is a mother
of Learnings

13. Knowledge Sharing
● Always plan the time on knowledge sharing to be multifunctional and
prevent Bus factor
● Again keep everything in one wiki place - all you need is to be
confident in tomorrow’s day
● Do knowledge transfer easily (record all you know and leave all the
materials in wiki pages)
● Make great onboarding instruction and do not waste your time and
nervous
● Write User Guides - it will help others to be known in your features and
often helps to rethink some things

14. Conclusion
● Do what you Love and love what you Do
● Be attentive to details
● Better do not believe yourself sometimes and recheck after
● Truth is the situation when Expected Result is equal to Actual and
everybody knows that
● Make Love not War - Communication and Teamwork is always Success on
the way of Goals achievement
● Better QA is that after whom bugs are not found and not that who found
more bugs!
● Be QA and prevent Bugs and stop to be only Controller and post Tester

15. My services
Subscribe
● Youtube channel
● QABlog - Facebook
● UkrainQA - Facebook
● Roman Yakymchuk Consulting - Telegram
My Responsibilities
● QA Consulting
● Mentoring
● Lecturer
○ Exploratory Testing
○ Security Testing
○ Test Analysis