In spring 2020, Rachael Lovallo’s company joined many others in going fully remote due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They needed to significantly rework test strategies to continue ensuring a top-quality communication platform for emergency medical professionals and their patients. After over a year of adapting, they are thriving and may never return to old methods. In this talk, Rachael will share her team’s three most impactful test strategy shifts.
First, physical devices still outperform simulators for non-automated testing, but the group needed to know who had what devices, reach out for help with test coverage, and make time to help others. They also found an investment in screen mirroring software worth every penny for providing a semblance of being in the same room crowded around a mobile phone.
Second, being a cross-functional test team quickly grew challenging when the office closed. The group kept everyone in the loop by adding structure to team dynamics, including weekly meetings, monthly feature demos from the tester perspective, scenario-based bug bashes, and even designated time for water-cooler talk.
Lastly, they involved testers in projects earlier. With physical distance, communication became more labored on the development team, especially around defining requirements and release sequencing. The testers used their knowledge of the various moving parts of the product to ensure quality from requirements gathering through development, automating and testing, to eventual release to customers.
Join Rachael as she shares how her team faced the challenges brought by 2020, remained flexible, and came into 2021 stronger than ever.
Rachael Lovallo, Invited Speaker, 2021
