The COVID-19 pandemic compelled countless companies to hastily transition their on-site staff to remote work in early 2020. For many test teams, this meant moving complex quality assurance (QA) processes fully online for the first time. Conducting meticulous test planning, test case execution, defect logging, test status meetings and reporting became exponentially more challenging without in-person collaboration.
Over two years later, hybrid or fully-distributed teams are the norm at most organizations. Mastering remote collaboration is no longer optional – it‘s essential for testing success.
As an expert with over a decade of experience managing remote browser and device testing teams, I‘ve seen firsthand the pitfalls teams face. Lacking proper preparation, many teams struggle with communication breakdowns, productivity losses from excessive meetings, delayed issue resolution and diminished work-life balance.
This comprehensive guide distills the most vital best practices I‘ve developed for smoothing out distributed testing operations. Whether you recently transitioned your QA team off-site or have been supporting remote employees for years, these proven tips will optimize efficiency.
I‘ll cover five key areas:
- Facilitating constant communication
- Coordinating tasks with project management tools
- Accelerating testing via automation
- Enabling collaborative troubleshooting
- Maintaining morale and work-life balance
Constant Communication Anchors Remote Teams
The #1 predictor of success I‘ve observed among distributed test groups is strong communication disciplines. When teams abandon central HQs, vital in-person interactions evaporate. Testers isolated in home offices all day struggle to stay equally informed. Relying purely on email causes critical details to slip through the cracks in inboxes.
To function cohesively, remote groups must lay a foundation of persistent, clear communication across multiple channels.
Chat Apps Keep Conversations Flowing
Email alone cannot meet the demands of dynamic testing projects. Priorities shift rapidly. Questions arise frequently when encountering defects. Requirements pivot unexpectedly.
Rather than playing email tag waiting for responses, have your team chat in real-time. Popular business messaging apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat centralize conversations across devices for any team size.
Unlike email, chat tools allow teammates to pose clarifying questions and share visuals like screenshots as soon as needs arise rather than losing productivity waiting. Threaded messaging means important updates won‘t get lost among other exchanges. Reminders and notifications keep users engaged. Search makes finding previous exchanges easy.
Set expectations that team members keep these chat apps open consistently during core working hours for quick access. Managers can also use chat to check if unusually quiet team members have any blocking issues.
Video Calls Build Stronger Connections
Despite chat apps facilitating seamless conversations, video meetings build closer working relationships. Don‘t abandon collaborative design reviews, specification planning sessions, stand ups and retrospectives from pre-pandemic eras. Thanks to Zoom, Skype, Webex, Microsoft Teams and similar services, groups can still convene face-to-face regularly.
For larger meetings, appoint facilitators to keep discussions on track and encourage quieter attendees to contribute insights. Record sessions so no sage advice gets lost. After ending each meeting, send out recaps highlighting decisions made and next action items.
Seeing peers‘ facial expressions also restores some human connectivity lost with remote work. Set calendars to require video enabled for team check-ins at least twice a week. Smaller subgroups can coordinate additional video meetings to workshop execution plans or analyze results for given test cycles.
Project Management Tools Centralize Task Tracking
On top of communication difficulties, individual remote testers often struggle self-organizing deliverables without visual cues from on-site colleagues. Likewise, managers have limited visibility into distributed groups‘ bandwidth and achievement levels. Advanced project management systems now enable enhanced coordination – no matter where team members reside.
Task Planning With Collaborative Boards
Transition from siloed spreadsheets and sticky notes to unified platforms like Jira, Trello, Asana and Monday.com. These tools allow your entire team to collaborate within shared digital boards and lists for transparency.
Users can create epics, stories, subtasks and assign them to owners. Add tags like priority, sprint number or test environment to categorize work. Drag items across preset workflows modeled like "Backlog > To Do > In Progress > Verify > Done" to monitor cycle time and spot workflow bottlenecks.
Project heads gain better oversight into team accomplishments by individual and across groups. Remote workers stay aligned on immediate priorities while retaining sight of the bigger roadmap. Their contributions also gain increased internal visibility to motivate productivity.
Sample Project Board Structure
Effective boards balance organized data without bombarding users. Here is a sample layout I‘ve used successfully for test case management across dozens of agile projects:
- Backlog – Parking lot for early stage test scenarios still under review
- To Do – Test cases approved to execute in upcoming sprint
- In Progress – Tests actively being executed by assigned tester
- Verify – Tests completed needing peer review
- Done – Reviewed tests approved to be packaged in test cycles
Advanced Reporting
Robust PM tools offer advanced reporting and metrics to uncover insights. Review analysis like test statuses by priority level, open defects by age, tester workload distribution and test case cycle time. Many integrate with companion mobile apps so managers access dashboards on-the-go.
Accelerate Testing With Automation Frameworks
Even extraordinarily capable QA testers get overwhelmed executing immense regression testing without office resources. The versatility of test automation makes it an absolute necessity for productive remote teams. Frameworks like Selenium and Cypress minimize tedious manual procedures to enable expanded testing capacity.
Software Testing Automation Frameworks
Many test automation solutions exist beyond Selenium with varying strengths:* Katalon Studio: Simplified record and playback creator for beginners
- TestComplete: Keyword-driven testing with object recognition
- Ranorex: Superior image-based object identification
- Cypress: Specialized for front-end testing
Automating Sample Test Scripts
While coding fluency speeds development, these frameworks minimize prerequisite knowledge through recorder utilities. Below is a sample Selenium script that logs in a user, asserts expected page title and logs back out:
//Open browser
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver()
//Login site
driver.get("http://demo.testfire.net/");
driver.findElement(By.id("uid")).sendKeys("admin");
driver.findElement(By.id("passw")).sendKeys("admin");
driver.findElement(By.name("btnSubmit")).click();
//Assert home page title
if(driver.getTitle()=="Altoro Mutual") {
System.out.println("Login successful!");
} else {
System.out.println("Login failed!");
}
//Logout
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id=‘header‘]/ul/li[3]/a")).click();
driver.close();Such scripts automate tedious login sequences for cross-browser testing, form submissions, UI flows and more. Cloud testing solutions like BrowserStack further let scripts execute at scale across thousands of device/OS combinations.
Manual Testing Still Matters
That said, exclusively automated testing poses risks. Scripts can miss edge cases. Buildup of stale selectors causes flakiness over time. Shifting requirements may invalidate scripts.
Complement automation with exploratory and usability testing. Have testers randomly interact with features while monitoring app behavior. Capture inputs that yield unexpected outputs.
Automation accelerates remote team velocity yet manual testing ensures quality. Find the right balance for your workflow.
Smooth Cross-Functional Support With Remote Tools
Despite extensive testing, issues inevitably arise requiring collaborative troubleshooting. Testers may struggle to reproduce cryptic bugs fixed in previous sprints without historical code. Receiving timely technical support drastically improves efficiency.
Remote Support Access
Equip testers, developers and support reps with reliable remote support tools facilitating screen sharing and device control. Utilities like TeamViewer, BeyondTrust and Microsoft Remote Desktop enable authorized technicians to examine settings and recreate test scenarios without needing physical proximity. Sensitive credentials stay protected unlike exposing them verbally.
Remote Session Recording
Have technicians leverage integrated recording capabilities during remote sessions to capture issues. Testers can replay videos locally from eyes of support staff to understand remediations. Videos also help developers contextualize bug reproduction steps.
Swift Customer Issue Investigation
Grant support teams access to view customer systems when addressing submitted help tickets. Quick remote sessions allow staff to experience troublesome workflows firsthand. Speedier diagnosis translates to faster turnarounds and improved satisfaction.
Work-Life Balance Sustains Productivity
Amidst evaluating the above tactical considerations, company leadership cannot ignore human factors. Avoid fostering a culture where staff feel compelled to overwork themselves because direct oversight is absent.
The following guidelines help avoid burnout and sustain camaraderie among distributed teams:
Define Core Collaboration Hours
Convey that late nights and early mornings are unnecessary to demonstrate dedication. Emphasize employees should only work between agreed peak hours like 10 AM to 4 PM. Enable flexibility in employees choosing individual schedules within reasonably aligned windows.
Discourage Overintegration of Work and Life Spaces
Caution staff against permanently integrating home office setups into living rooms or kitchens. Such entanglement of work and personal domains will exacerbate burnout.
Of course, some may lack dedicated home office rooms. Suggest headphones, partitions and clear off-duty indicators like shutting laptops to establish boundaries.
Check on Social Health
During 1:1 meetings, don‘t just probe about project status. Regularly ask about social connections beyond the realm of work. Remind the importance of offline hobbies and relationships.
If staff confess social isolation, brainstorm new ways to foster connections like virtual cooking events or mass video game nights. Some companies even set up internal mentorship programs to expand inter-team bonding.
Support Employees with Caregiving Responsibilities
Provide accommodations for employees balancing child care, homeschooling duties, elder care or other family obligations alongside work. Be flexible around caregiving schedules. Offer reduced hours or rearrange duties if reasonable. Express that output matters more than set schedules.
Encourage Taking Breaks
Suggest taking intermittent short breaks for meals, exercise, errands or simply recharging. Curb video call fatigue by converting some meetings to traditional conference calls so peers aren‘t compulsively monitoring self-appearance.
Establish official periodic mental health days where the entire company logs off. Consider covering home office internet costs or shipping care packages on these company-wide recharge days.
Foster Bonds Through Remote Activities
Host team building activities virtually to alleviate isolation and strengthen connections. Organize video call trivia nights, cook-offs, art challenges, tournaments and more. Splurge on food delivery gift cards so that everyone can participate in special meals.
Distributed Testing Teams Can Thrive Under Any Circumstances
With the pandemic necessitating widespread remote work adoption, the playbooks for product testing have forever changed. Thankfully when equipped with the proper tools and management strategies centered on empathy and flexibility, distributed testing teams can thrive under any circumstances.
By laying a strong foundation of persistent communication, project transparency, enhanced automation and tactical HR policies, test leaders can keep productivity, innovation and camaraderie high across dispersed groups. Refine these areas continuously and your teams will gain skills to excel through future workplace shifts.
