Bianca Visagie, Khumo Motlhabi & Sethabile Mbatha
4 August 2022
Collaboration between testers and developers can be tricky to navigate. It might look like the relationship between artist and art critic, as a good software tester might bring more bad news than good news. That is why collaboration between testers and developers is crucial for the success of a product.
Collaboration leads to understanding, ensuring that the relationship between testers and developers becomes easier to navigate. We’ve already discussed the importance of software testing, so in today’s post, we’ll discuss collaboration between testers and developers.
5 tips for better collaboration between testers and developers
#1: Testers should participate in early planning sessions
Collaboration between testers and developers should take place in the early stages of a project. When the initial work on a project is being scoped out, it’s important to include testers. Traditionally, the role of a tester doesn’t begin until a developer is finished. However, testing should be included as soon as possible.
It is essential that testers and developers work together to see if the requirements are readable, understandable, clear, and concise.
#2: Begin testing from an early stage
It is much easier, and faster, to test features as they are introduced. Code can be tested from an early stage, preventing developers from making mistakes. This can save a lot of time. The sooner testers detect & fix bugs, the more time, money and resources businesses end up saving.
#3: Reach out to developers/testers
The developer’s focus is on creating the product according to the ever-changing specs. The tester’s focus is to test features as the product is being changed and updated. However, if a tester is ever unsure of how a feature would work, they need to reach out to the developers. Additionally, developers can benefit from understanding the QA process and test suite. Learning from each other will make the process much easier.
#4: Participate in code review
Code-reviewing is often done with hardly any or little participation from the testers. However, that shouldn’t be the case. Understanding the codebase and its working is not exclusively a developer’s task. Testers have to design tests probing the correct areas.
#5: Prioritize test scripts
Communication between testers and developers is once again a vital part of the process. Testers should have a fair idea about the testing efforts done by the developers. This would help testers identify which features have already been tested by the developer. Therefore, it is important to have a list of testable items prioritized over the others.
Collaboration between testers and developers
Just as the master chocolatier carefully curates chocolates from bean to bar, ensuring that it not only looks good but tastes good as well, software testers ensure that a product is not just beautifully designed and well coded, but bug-free and exceeds client expectations.
At Integrove, our software testers and developers constantly collaborate in an agile environment. Our skilful and professional team, spanning multiple technology disciplines, can successfully deliver end-to-end solutions in an integrated and agile manner. Let us make your next software product a success!