Software Testing Best Practices 2022 | The Onboarding Process
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Software Testing Best Practices in 2022 | The Onboarding Process
A client's onboarding process is rarely discussed in software testing best practices. But this is a critical element that can provide clients insurance that the return on the money they are about to invest will be as high as possible.
So today, we would like to share with you one of the software testing best practices, namely what we consider the perfect way of onboarding clients is. When we start working with clients or have a sales presentation with them, one of the first things they ask is, "We would like to know what your onboarding process is and how do you ensure the onboarding process is smooth."
Software testing onboarding best practices
The onboarding process consists of four key elements.
1. Minimize the risk for potential clients.
What is key to minimizing risk? The first one deals in terms of disclosure. You want to have a straightforward and bi-directional NDA in place. Additionally, you want to minimize risk by containing your costs and making sure that the firm you are working with delivers what they promise but is also given room to deliver more than they promise. This can sometimes be difficult for larger firms doing "outsourcing" and with very mature outsourcing models. They might want to have specific things done, for instance, to have particular test cases executed on specific platforms and have the results provided in a precise format or system they want the software testing services firm to report in.
From these types of customers' points of view they might minimize risk, but on the other hand, they also minimize the upside they could get from a firm that is creative in approaching their problem and determining even better solutions. So while you want to reduce risk, you also want to give the software testing firm room to be creative and provide better solutions than you would otherwise have on yourself.
The following software testing onboarding best practice is easy and hassle-free.
2. Easy and hassle-free
You want to work with a very flexible firm with great communication and can get started very easily. Many companies in the software testing industry have this practice of trying to nail you down with a certain long-term contract or a specific project length, which of course, incur cost to you with limited visibility on the scope of results. So this is one of the criteria we identified as one of the seven key selection criteria a client should consider when selecting a software testing company. What we like to do with our clients is bring them on in a flexible way multiple dimensions which means that they can use a very short time window to evaluate the work that we do.
3. Flexibility in multiple dimensions
Additionally, we add extra flexibility in terms of the number of people that we put on the job and the number of hours that we put on the job. So, for example, we realized that one of the software testing onboarding best practices was working with our customers by the man/month versus the hour. And the reason to do it this way is to avoid surprises at the end of the month when customers see a bill for 197 hours for a guy, which leaves you wondering, "what did this guy do?". So therefore, you want to be flexible, but you also want to minimize risk, so that's important.
4. Value from the beginning
The last thing, which is probably the most important thing, is for clients to seek a contract or engagement that provides value from the very beginning. That implies working with our clients to figure out exactly where they are in the maturity process of their testing and see whether or not they apply general software testing best practices. That allows us to find out where we can add the most value right away. Sometimes instant value-added services could be an extra pair of hands, doing more work that they need us to do. Other times it's about understanding their process and understanding where they can improve their process.
So, the software testing services company you sign up with should be flexible in working with you and understanding you, and helping you get the most value from the services they provide. In summary, sometimes that means doing exactly what you tell them to do. Other times it means enabling them and allowing them the room to use their expertise and experience that they have developed over the years, working with many other clients, and bringing that to the table to help you.
So a very important software testing best practice is the way to onboard a software testing services company, following the guidelines provided above.