Developing a Framework for Knowledge Sharing and Learning

Are you looking to continually mature your testing practice, stand out from other organisations and have fun building a community of like-minded members with shared interests?

If so, a Test Guild might be for you! Here's the guide of how to set up a test guild. 

For those of you who have played games and have been part of a Guild, then I have no doubt that you immediately cast your mind to the benefits of a well-run guild. The concepts of a guild go way back, and for good reason!

Introduction: Understanding the Significance of Web Accessibility

The internet is a vast, overwhelming universe of competing information in which your website must stand out among a trillion other websites all trying to stand out. That’s why it is essential to gain any advantage you can. You spend your hard-earned money on web design, on marketing, on ads and on improving your SEO but how much attention are you paying to simply making sure that everyone who wants to do business with you is able to do business with you?

The good news is that it’s very easy to do, so, here are 4 compelling reasons to make your website accessible to all: 

Introduction to Ryan Dudley

1. How long have you been working in testing?

I've been in testing now for 6 and a half years. I joined nFocus fresh out of college as an apprentice at the age of 18 and never looked back! I've been exposed to a wide range of testing approaches and technologies and I've been able to work on a variety of different projects all with their own challenges.

2. What is your favourite area of testing?

Automation Testing - I find it fascinating how you can automate a task, removing the need to check that piece of functionality manually. This then allows you to have a great regression pack to be run whenever you like, giving you confidence when you are heading into a new release.

The Final Chapter of Excellence: How to Reach Your Goals

Today, we welcome backScott Summers with the final piece in his 'Testing Centre of Excellence' series. 

In this blog, I’d like to wrap up this series by providing some possible components for the scope of services that a TCOE might deliver. The scope of the Testing Centre of Excellence services should, ideally, fill the gaps in the testing and quality approach within the organisation. These can be identified through the review process I outlined in the previous blogs in this series:

How to Maximize Productivity

Today, we welcome back Scott Summers with his advice on maintaining productivity in 2020.

A question that I’m being asked a lot at the moment is “how can I maintain (or increase) the productivity of my test team when they are working from home?”. The following are a few things that I've been considering recently and hope you find them useful.

The Transition to Remote Work

Today we welcome nFocus employee, Kyla Rice with her 'Musings on Working from Home'. 

Like many of you I have found myself working from home since lockdown began in March. Fortunately, this did not fill me with dread, as I was fortunate to already have the flexibility of working from home as needed.

Is Building a Testing Centre of Excellence Worth It?

In my last post, Building a Testing Centre of Excellence, I identified the first few steps needed to create a testing centre of excellence. These are:

• Build the business case.
• Define and share your vision.
• Create the leadership team.
• Define your operating and financial model.

Now that it’s so critical to success, I’ll just reiterate one thing, the TCOE must have control of its own budget and should not be funded entirely by projects.

A Step-by-Step Guide

In my previous two blogs, I went into detail about some of the benefits of implementing a Testing Centre of Excellence (TCOE). Before you start reading, maybe take a look at the previous blogs of this series: 

• Benefits of a Testing Centre of Excellence
• Benefits of a Testing Centre of Excellence - Part 2

The benefits can be summarised as:

• Reduced costs
• Increased efficiency and consistency
• Maximised staff utilisation

Reflecting on the Value of a Testing Centre of Excellence

In my last post I discussed how a Testing Centre of Excellence can reduce cost and create efficiency in an organisation. In this post, I will discuss some of the other benefits of a TCOE.

A Testing Centre of Excellence can:

• Increase test maturity and promote innovation across the organisation
• Define, encourage and enforce best practices
• Define test policy and test strategies aligned with the business needs

What is a Testing Centre of Excellence?

A Testing Centre of Excellence (TCOE) can be many different things with different objectives and its scale and reach will vary from company to company. Generally speaking, it’s an internal organisation that provides various testing and testing related services to its internal customers. Although internal, it can be set up and delivered by a third-party external organisation. The TCOE can be onshore or offshore and geographically dispersed but, by definition, will always be managed centrally.