Is Outsourcing Quality Assurance Right for You?Outsourcing quality assurance can be the answer to meeting a project schedule without increasing long-term cost. Many companies need to flexibility that outsourcing provides them. The ability to meet an aggressive timeline without the need to add internal pressure or confusion can be of great benefit to just about any company. Does this mean that you should outsource all of your QA needs? Well, not if you develop anything in-house. But what should be outsourced? How do you strike the right balance between in-house and outsourcing quality assurance? Before we get into the finer points of whether or not outsourcing quality assurance is right for you or your project, let’s be straight about one very important, non-negotiable point: Testing is a prime focus of quality assurance, but it is not the only one. When considering whether outsourcing quality assurance is the best choice for you, please keep that most salient fact in mind. Now, on with the show!
How do you know when you should contract an independent software testing company? When is outsourcing quality assurance a choice that will benefit your project? • If you have a project whose short-term needs include more skilled testers than you have on-hand, outsourcing quality assurance may be a good fit for you If your project meets one or more of the above criteria then you should strongly consider outsourcing quality assurance. You should find a company that can be your Quality Assurance partner.
For a one-time project, outsourcing quality assurance makes plenty of sense. You should have time to source a reputable company that can handle your QA needs and meet your schedule. As soon as the project is complete, your expenses for the extra QA stop. Everyone wins. If you are able to locate and contract with a superior software testing company, you and your project will both benefit. They will bring their considerable expertise to bear, supply it at an affordable rate, and when they are done you will wonder why (if not how) how you ever undertook a project without them. When you need greater expertise and/or more and skilled sets of eyes, hands, and synapses than you have available in-house, outsourcing quality assurance is the right move. Plan your project accordingly. Make sure your QA partner has enough ramp-up time to be valuable when you need them and has you on their schedule.
When planning a long-term solution for outsourcing quality assurance, you should choose your QA partner very wisely. As critical as it is to choose a partner who can add value to your project in the short-term, once you saddle up with a partner for the long-haul, it will be more difficult to change (ever heard of not changing horses mid-stream?). And any change during the course of the project will cost you. If your company is dead set against employing QA themselves, then find yourself a QA partner that will be able to serve your needs long-term. This partner should be able to provide immediate value for you and should become even more valuable over time. They should know all the “ins” and “outs” of SQA; should be able to create processes that will ensure smooth and unobstructed flow of information between your two companies.
How do you know if outsourcing quality assurance will be beneficial to you? Why should you outsource when you could hire someone to work with you as your QA expert?
This is often cited as the key to why you would outsource your quality assurance. Hourly cost to a company for every “tester hour” billed is seen as far less expensive and thus can make a project budget appear in-line.
Adding a QA Expert (or a team of them) to your project team should be viewed as a method of ensuring the most effective techniques are used and that your outsourced QA Team is utilized most efficiently. An expert can make sure that any other QA you employ is held accountable. If you don’t have the expertise to know if you are getting the best return on your testing dollar, or don’t have the time to monitor all of the results, define and implement effective procedures, etc., then you need a Quality Assurance Expert. Hiring this expertise on a short-term basis is another preventative measure you can take to ensure your project has the best chance of success. Once your project is safely released to the wild, you are free of this expense.
None of that even considers justifying maintaining an in-house QA Team when there is not an active project to employ them. Although valuable Quality Assurance Professionals know how to continuously add value to their department, division, and company – if they are not actively testing, their value is often not apparent to non-QA personnel.
This is commonly thought to speed up the production time of a project. When utilized most effectively, it can indeed offer some time savings to your project. Just be careful of not falling into the trap of thinking that just because your QA Partner is working when you are sleeping that your project will be completed sooner. See “Delayed Communication” below.
Are there really drawbacks to outsourcing quality assurance? Of course there are. But if you arm yourself with enough knowledge you will have the chance to avoid at least the most lethal of them.
A pretty website, a slick corporate office, and worldwide locations to serve you – how can you go wrong? Well, do they know anything about high-value quality assurance? Their per-hour testing rate is so cheap that, you think, “How can I NOT hire them?” This is a dangerous trap to fall into. But here is a way to keep a level head: Think about what you are deciding. What is the decision you are making here? Aren’t you looking for someone to help your project succeed? You are shopping for a Quality Assurance Partner that will add value to your project – not make your job more difficult. It can take work to finally find a QA Partner who understands that your success is in their best interest. But take the time to do so. Once you do, you can go back to them over and over and over for all of your projects going forward. You won’t have to hire and manage any permanent QA staff, you will have your very own Quality Assurance secret that you can have on your side for years to come. Make sure you understand the services they will provide, how they will provide them, and what value that will add. How will your choice of outsourcing quality assurance impact your project?
If your test team is asleep while you are working, how long do you think it will take you get any answer from them regarding any issues you have? If they have logged bugs that need additional information, can you just call them or email them and get an instantaneous reply? No very likely. All communication has about a 12-hour delay. So while they can test while you sleep, remember that they will be sleeping while you work. If you need any information from them, it will not be available until the next business day. And do you know when their holidays are? Are they the same as yours? Have you factored their holidays into your project schedule? Or will you be surprised when on 24-hour notice you find out that they will be closed for the remaining three business days remaining in your week. Now how is your testing? Is your development still on an accelerated pace?
In the rush to save the short-term almighty dollar, little thought is ever given to the amount of expertise developed over the course of a project. Your QA Team may seem to be busy little bees, just plugging away testing and reporting and making sure you’re up to date (and no doubt they are), but they are doing something else almost as important: The QA Team is learning more about your product than anyone else! That’s what they do. It’s one of the things at which career Quality Assurance Professionals excel. As they test and bug, measure and report, they observe and note every nuance of your project. They learn the genesis of each detailed feature. They note and remember each subtle and overt design change – they also debate the merits of each, but that’s another part of the story. Long before your project is complete, an Elite QA Team will have become a set of walking, talking encyclopedias for everything even remotely connected to your project. When the project ends, they take all of that knowledge with them. This may be the most costly long-term effect of employing QA on a per-project basis. The amount of information that real QA Professionals gather and the efficiencies they can implement with that information have such immense long-term cost savings that it is truly a wonder that so many companies let all that information just disappear.
We’ve talked about the benefits and the drawbacks of outsourcing quality assurance once you have decided that it is the best decision for you and your project. So, armed with solid intel, you are ready to make your move. What challenges await you?
How much time and effort will be necessary to get the most out of them? Will you be the one managing them? Will another member of your project team? Figure this one out before you decide who to work with.
This makes the job of selling the value of your own QA Team more difficult than outsourcing quality assurance. When outsourcing, the hourly cost is obvious, quantified, and simple to understand. Compared to the cost of one’s own employee, outsourcing quality assurance appears an obvious choice. More concerned with the immediate, obvious bottom line than the long-term benefit of having your very own elite team of career quality assurance, process improvement, and problem solving experts. Employing committed Quality Assurance experts opens the door to so many high-value opportunities…good luck convincing your average middle manager to risk their budget on unlimited potential. I wish you the best success when deciding if outsourcing quality assurance is the right decision for you. You now have critical information that should help you decide.
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