The document outlines a comprehensive testing strategy aimed at enhancing quality assurance (QA) processes for small to medium enterprises. It emphasizes the importance of acceptance criteria over traditional test cases, the integration of automated and exploratory testing, and the necessity of fostering trust within QA teams. Key recommendations include utilizing codeless UI automation, promoting continuous testing, and redefining hiring practices to prioritize critical thinking and emotional intelligence in candidates.

1. Building a testing strategy
that scales
Thomas Noë
QA Architect, TeamLeader

2. www.teamleader.eu
● Studies: Bio-Engineer
● +5 years QA engineer
● +5 years QA manager
● 1,5 years @Teamleader
● Twitter:@Noe_Thomas_QA
● Linkedin: thomas-noë-82337a7
Who am I

3. www.teamleader.eu
We simplify the work
for
11 000+ SME’s
https://www.teamleader.eu
CRM, Invoicing, Project, HR, Marketplace
https://www.teamleader.eu

4. GA
Feature
Manual testing
UI automation
BETA

5. GA
Feature
Manual testing
UI automation
BETA

6. Preconditions

7. Small PR’s
● Easy to review
● More thorough review
● Less likely to introduce bugs
● Less wasted work if they are rejected
● Easier to merge
● Less blocking on reviews
● Easier to revert

8. Some others
● Scalable automated CI pipeline
● Unit and API/integration automation tests
● Small testable user stories (1-3 workday)
● Daily PR merging to master
● Test environment rebuilded by the CI pipeline

9. Problem 1
Test cases and test execution

13. 0

14. Testing is providing information about the
product
Michael Bolton

15. We don’t have test cases, we have acceptance
criteria
Thomas Noë

16. Custom Test strategies
Define your strategy together with your team.
Acceptance criteria

17. Machines Do Regression,
Humans do Exploratory

18. Problem 2
UI Test Automation

21. Selenium tests are:
flaky
expensive

26. Stable Mabl tests
Unstable Mabl tests
Experimental Mabl tests
Production deploy
CI
trigger
Green
Red
Remove build

28. Codeless UI automation tools completely
changes how QA engineers work

29. mabl.com/testcon

30. Problem 3
Lacking feedback

31. Fail Fast
Fail Early
Fail Often

33. testlocal machine

34. Post “Continuous Testing in DevOps”, Dan Ashby

35. Mabl

36. Problem 4
QA team being a team on its own

38. A team is not a group of people who work together.
A team is a group of people who trust each other.
Simon Sinek

40. It takes both sides to build a bridge
Frederic Nael

41. Leaders should be gardeners
Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal

42. Do quality engineering with a holistic view
Thomas Noë

43. Problem 5
Hiring

44. QA skills
● You have solid experience in Java, Php, etc
● You have good knowledge of either Gradle/Maven, JUnit, or Docker
● You’re experienced in writing clear, concise and comprehensive test plans
and test cases
● You have hands-on experience with automated testing tools (Selenium,
Ansible, etc.)

45. Hire potential
Critical thinking
Strong network skills
Strong analytical thinker
Strong emotional intelligence
Thinks as a customer
Fast self learning
Determined/Focussed
Entrepreneur

46. Become QA consultant/advisor
Network
Jump in a team for a while
Read the team
Help the team to improve quality closer to the code
Explore test together as a team
Show the mirror to the team (based on facts)
Influence PM - Dev lead - VP PM - Architect - UX architect

47. GA
Feature
Exploratory testing
Continuous
automation
BETA
1. Acceptance criteria > test cases
2. Codeless UI > Selenium
3. Fail > safe releases
4. Team > QA team
5. Hiring: QA advisor > QA engineer