8/19/2019 What is Technical Debt and Why QA Testers Should Be Concerned About It

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What is Technical Debt

and Why QA TestersShould be ConcernedAbout It?

Technical debt is a metaphorical idea which argues that

just as one may run into debt problems in fnance,so tware organizations encounter something similar inthe buildup o unfnished work during past projects andversion releases/sprints.What is Technical debt?It represents the efort needed to x the issues/de ectsthat remain in the code when an application is released.In simple words – it’s the diference (in terms o bugs)

between what is expected and what is delivered.When a development team is busy working on a projectand fxing bugs un ortunately, many new bugs appear.

ut o these, some are fxed and some are di!ered orlater release. When this di!ering o issues goes onincreasing, at one point it becomes really di"cult torelease the product on time without any issues. #his isthe worst conse$uence o #echnical debt i it%s not

tackled on time.In this article, you will learn – what is technicaldebt, why QA team should be concerned about itand most importantly how to manage it

image sourceWard Cunningham , the ounder o wiki

so tware, conceived o this idea way back in the &''(s,drawing parallels with the impact o bad debt on the

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8/19/2019 What is Technical Debt and Why QA Testers Should Be Concerned About It

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)or example, it has been observed that code duplicatione!orts can lead to anything between *+ to +- extrawork.2owever, nowhere are the challenges due to technicaldebt more e.ident than in QA testing where testteams have to meet unexpected deadlines andeverything may be thrown out o gear.2ow o ten have your testers aced $uandaries at the lastmoment when unexpectedly, the delivery manager cameand told them, 0#eam3 We have to roll out our product ina week%s time, sorry about not being able tocommunicate this in time. 4lease fnish with all test tasksurgently so that we can be ready with the demo.1

5asically, any missed tests or 0solve it later1 approachcan lead to a tech debt like problem. 6ack o testcoverage , oversized user stories, short sprints, and otherexamples o 0cutting corners1 due to delivery pressureplay a huge role behind the accumulation o technicaldebt in 78 practice.

A /eal World 01ample8 9:;based online retailer with signifcant presenceacross multiple websites and mobile apps ound itsel in areal world 0technical debt1 challenge when thecomplexity o the testing mesh started compounding witheach new sprint .

#his happened due to the sudden spurt in the number omobile devices to be tested, multiple languages to besupported, and more than hal ;a;dozen social networkingsites to be leveraged.

With an automation co.erage less than 23-, thetech debt challenge would show up in the ollowing ways<

• 01cessi.e time consumption in release

testing - With the number o browsers, devices and

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scripts growing with each test sprint, the releasecycle would keep getting delayed leading to loss otime;to;market.

• The increasing cost o) hiring - #he number otesters needed to support the project nearly doubledwhich translated into =>((k additional costs

• Comple1ity in pro4ect - With the growingcomplexity o project, keeping track o test casesand bugs was becoming a challenge

• Too much time wasted in chasing )alsepositi.es - 8gain, a all;out o increasing project

complexities.• Increase in test de.elopment e&ort by as muchas 53- - *t goes with the territory

Tech Debt 6anagement in QA7ractices?ost 78 managers impulsively view tech debt as the

reasonable conse$uence o ocusing all your energy onthe current sprint alone, which leads to achieving the testcoverage somehow through manual means, andcompletely ignore automation.

#his is known as the 'uic( and dirty approach whichhas been covered in a blog by ?artin )owler, the authoro the technical debt $uadrant .

8gile principles dictate that we visualize the tech debtproblem as an inability to uphold and meet QAbenchmar(s .

;;;;;;;;;;;;*n act, based on a survey by the @ational *nstitute o:tandards and #echnology +@*:# , insu"cient testingtools and methods annually cost the 9.:. economybetween 8** * and 8+9 + billion , with roughly hal o

this money spent on extra testing by so tware developersand around hal by so tware users to avoid ailures.

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*nstead o reacting to ailures as and when the incidenthappens, a proactive approach would be to identi yde ects a ter every activity or task that can be measured.

Aou can do all o it manually but given the thousands otest case scenarios or an average project, automatedtesting control is a necessity.

Blearly, e&ecti.e testing can help you gain seriousground in the war on technical debt. :o, what does itbasically meanC *t means how well;e$uipped your systemis at identi ying de ects in the overall application.

8s the above e$uation shows, test case e!ectiveness cantheoretically approach even &((D i the number ocustomer ound de ects +i.e. post;production de ects hadbeen mapped precisely to the number o de ects ound ateach stage o testing coverage.

*n order to have a well;designed testing bed which canaccurately measure the de ects as soon as they creep in,automation is a prere$uisite.

Testing automation helps you minimize the number oscripts being executed by reporting results andcomparing them with earlier test runs. #he method orprocess being used to execute automation is called atest automation )ramewor( .

#ypical examples would be commercial;o!;the;shel orree tools such as :elenium, ?onkey#alk, Eobotium ,

5orland :ilkBentral, 24 7uality Benter and *5? EationalEose .*n the past, 78/testing was o ten seen by organizationsand their so tware teams as a support activity to moreimportant business deliverables, and not a disciplinedpractice in its own right which would re$uire core,

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dedicated ocus. *n act, a non;core approach to78/testing is precisely what has led to the ongoingchallenge o technical debt in the frst place.

Bonsidering the rapid pace o evolution in 78/testingskills that has occurred in last one decade, organizationsare having a real hard time upgrading their skills andcompetencies to the minimum levels desired as percurrent industry benchmarks.

*n act, there is a growing industry trend to make do withnothing less than the most seasoned pro essionals intesting automation - sort o like the elite commandos otesting/78F they are known as so tware engineers in test+S0iT and so tware developers in test + SDiT . #hesepro essionals are in high demand due to their vastexperience in a chosen vertical +e.g. e;commerce or aparticular pro essional category.?ost so tware and product development companies, aswe speak now, are struggling to fnd the desired,$ualifed technical resources in the ace o shorterdelivery times. #he solution to this challenge is to partnerwith an o!shore 78 automation player that can addressyour skills shortage with the right pool o : i#/:Gi#resources.

ther desired attributes o an outsourcing player in78/#esting that prove help ul include an 8gile, disciplinedapproach to project execution, su"cient industryexperience including hands;on access to reusableautomation rameworks and test cases, and last but notthe least, a clear intent and ability to address remoteteam challenges and cultural clashes so that the client isnot burdened with extra work in managing contractors.

Conclusion

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6ike any other debt, technical debt can prove itsel to bethe bane o enterprises and the root cause o itsaccumulation is ailure to implement a proactive 78practice which removes all backlogs in automation.