What are the best ways to share testing status with your team?

One thing i have found helpful is to set and define a process on how testing process to be followed in the team. This helps internal stake holders understand what they can expect in terms of the outcome of testing. Second is to have a test management and track the status of each test case and extract a report out of it everyday to keep the team updated on the progress Third is to properly highlight the defect status as the outcome of the entire testing process is to measure the quality of the feature/app under test

Share testing status effectively by using clear and concise reports, detailing test progress, passed/failed scenarios, and any critical issues. Utilize visual aids like charts and graphs for quick insights. Regularly update team communication channels, such as meetings or collaboration platforms. Employ test management tools for centralized reporting and real-time updates. Clearly communicate any blockers or challenges. Foster transparency and encourage team members to ask questions or provide input. Effective status sharing ensures everyone is informed and aligned towards project goals.

Through tools like Jira, testers working from multiple locations and timezones clearly understand which part is pending to be tested. This in turn speeds up testing and enables to meet the milestones.

Always prefer to share the exact status and nothing should be an assumption or perception. Because anything can go wrong at anytime. Instead of covering up, better to provide the exact status. If you presenting data via excel or other formats then source of the data and other details along with legends will help the audience to understand better. This will make your job easy when you get into a call.

Manual testing - through reports offered by a test management tool or custom Jira made for test case management. Automated tests - Reports automatically generated using reporting tools like Allure, Mocha or integration with tools like Datadog. Also it can be done through integrating TCM tools with automation frameworks and CI/CD pipelines.

As a QA Lead, it is important for me to quickly understand the status of my team's progress, whether it's an individual feature or an entire sprint. 1. Dashboards are excellent for this purpose, the key is to choose a suitable tool for it, such as Jira, where you can create various Gantt charts and more. It's also essential to remember that the work of a QA specialist includes not only testing tasks directly but also different activities which also need to be accommodated in the release plan. 2. Spreadsheets are suitable for planning task distribution within the team and estimating workloads. Additionally, you can retrospectively review who tested which feature in past releases and time we actually spent on all our testing activities.

Sharing testing status via test dashboard is a centralized display which visually represents critical testing information. It includes test coverage, pass/fail rates, and open issues id. This dashboard helps as a real-time communication tool within the team, also it is quick and accessible snapshot of the testing status, enabling better collaboration and decision-making. With this having daily status meeting gives clear understanding on testing status.

As a Lead QA Engineer, I am juggling multiple projects at the same time with multiple teams, so tracking each one's progress is very crucial to see how we are advancing and are in a position to meet our goal or not. One thing, that has always helped me is visualizing progress, here is where dashboards or even simple spreadsheets help. 1. Tracking all tasks that are there in the team's bucket 2. How many people are working on it and more specifically who is owning which task 3. Setting ETAs 4. Highlighting blocked tasks & completed tasks 5. Measuring progress in quantitatively The above steps will always give you the answer to questions like where do you stand, how much time will it take to complete and any blockers.

Dashboard snd excel sheets is a good way to share team's results. Excel sheets may represent graphs with the current results and graphs for different methodologies to be implemented for improvement. Also leader may share the team in discussing the incorrect answers and and implement the modification of results correction via visualising graphs or tubular forms used. Dashboard and excel sheets could also be used to records voting to methodologies of improvements upon the indirect way for correcting their false results after discussion.

In my opinion, the way the testing status is shared should include the entire development team that is involved in the project, therefore I find very useful the JIRA dashboard that is reviewed daily by the entire development team or anytime a stakeholder is interested on this aspect. Also I find JIRA 'Releases' a very powerful feature that provides useful information regarding the release status for all stakeholders, not only from testing point of view but also from development point of view.

From my experience what may help : - regular meetings to share updates on the status ; - documented daily reports; - additional sync ups related to the exact feature with development/management team; - reports sent to client team , and more. These ways and many more can be considered , depends on what fits your team, processes. Communication with a team in any acceptable ways for both sides lets everyone stay on the same page.

In my experience, a quick meeting always helps. Collaboration is easy when everyone is meeting for a quick 15 minutes, timeboxed meeting, saying their piece and then continuing with their work. I have seen, status reports & emails either being missed, ignored or not been given the attention it deserves. Rather, setting up a 15 minute connect and then sending out an MoM with important learning, blockers or decisions help and provide a clear pathway.

These all various ways can be considered. But important is always what works for you and what is easy or convenient for you or your team. Although always concrete , crisp and to the point status adds value with whatever medium you are using In case of calls on zoom, slack etc the value addition is we can share status verbally expressing the emotions easily. Mails/ chats sometimes can mislead or jeopardize the context of status , based on writing abilities of individual. Again, depending on which meeting you are going to or sharing the status, whether it's leadership the powerpoint, spreadsheet or some charts on Jira board always helps But when it is daily scrum within the team , then we should go for quicker options like teams etc.

- Set a recurring schedule for status meetings to establish a routine. - Share a concise agenda before each meeting to guide discussions. - Prioritize updates on critical testing tasks and milestones. - Encourage team members to contribute to the agenda with their topics. - Utilize a timebox to keep meetings efficient and on track. - Foster an open environment where team members feel comfortable sharing updates. - Address any blockers immediately during the meeting or assign actions for resolution. - Leverage visuals such as charts or graphs to illustrate testing progress. - Use meetings to reinforce team collaboration and problem-solving. - Rotate meeting facilitators to distribute leadership responsibilities.

What I have been using personally is a daily status mail at the end of the day which will circulate to all the stakeholders including testing team members too which will reflect the task status (in progress/completed) or any defects raised and percentage completion.

Invite team to test demos. When demonstrating an increment completion to stakeholders, consider including the broader team to see the software and hear direct from QA on testing progress. Create a Slack channel. Develop a channel in Slack or teams tool of choice solely for providing ongoing visilibity into testing status, results and next steps.

Connecting your CI system with your workplace chat is convenient and effortless. However, this can become just noise if you someone doesn’t review the runs and digest the results. An automated message, driven by hooks providing a good summary of the run and referencing the previous runs and possible changes. Direct callouts to action with prepared/triaged tickets will lead to better results and higher team awareness. Having the run links will enable the team to learn how to view the results themselves and use the tests to their advantage instead of “dealing” with the failures…

Record Demos and share with team. Screen Recording: Use screen recording tools to capture your testing process. This is particularly useful for demonstrating the execution of test cases, showcasing specific issues, or providing walkthroughs of new features. Narration: Include voice narration to explain key points and share insights. This adds a personal touch and helps team members better understand the context. Editing: Edit the video to focus on the most relevant aspects of the testing process. Highlight important screens, interactions, or defects.

I have created screen recordings for test issues that aren't easily replicable for the developer troubleshooting my issue. This has a double benefit of confirming my issue is real and of giving more context so the developer can more easily replicate the issue.

Solicit Input: Actively seek feedback from team members, especially developers, product managers, and other stakeholders. This can be done through surveys, informal discussions, or dedicated feedback sessions. Open-Ended Questions: Ask open-ended questions to encourage detailed feedback. For example, inquire about the clarity of test cases, the effectiveness of test coverage, and the overall satisfaction with the testing process. Continuous Improvement: Use feedback as a means for continuous improvement. Identify areas where adjustments can be made to enhance the testing process and address any concerns raised by team members.

I disagree with that I think the first steps to Improve task quality is to seek feedback and reviews from different sources regularly you can it from from your peers,mentors, managers, clients, or users depending on the nature and purpose of the task. You can also use self-assessment tools,such as checklists,rubrics,or potifolios,to review your own work. Seeking feedback and reviews regularly can help you monitor your progress, spot errors, and get new prospective.

Based on my work experience, I'd suggest utilizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics as a means to offer a transparent snapshot of testing advancement. This encompasses elements like test coverage, the success of automation, and the open defects. Employing visual aids such as dashboard with charts and graphs can make it easier for the team to grasp the current state of testing.

In my experience , different projects have different needs and different set of stakeholders. In most of the projects , I have setup dashboards and team channels to share live status and also have informal communication channels open than to block time of 10 users. Regular sync ups or meetings were scheduled only in case of critical issues impacting the users. Jira dashboards have been useful in showing live status and enabling the business team to call out if anything is not progressing as per their plans.

In today’s fast-paced development environments, having clear, actionable insights into the health of your testing processes is crucial. To address this need, we developed an in-house utility that helps share integration test results with both our team and higher management. This utility not only automates the collection and sharing of test data but also provides the capability to analyze long-term trends, ensuring that teams can focus on improving system stability where it matters most.

We use Smartsheet. It is an internet-based tool that has real-time capabilities and can be shared with all users/contributors. It has an option to email, set up alerts, and tons of already-made templates that can be used, or you can make your own to suit what you need. This is used throughout our Quality group to keep track of RMAs - CARs - PPAPs - FAs - and anything else that we need to get the info out to the team. I have used this at 2 different companies before suggesting it at my current position. It is what I like to call an Excel sheet on steroids. Love this tool.

The best way to share the output of the tests or even status of the software is integrated report on the pipeline. It can be Allure report or even integrated report for Playwright that in a nice and readable graphical way can show a status and statistics of the app or its components.