What innovative ways can you solve Quality Assurance problems?

1- Listen to your customer-internal and external both 2- If you can not comply to a solution offered immediately keep it in your to do list any ways 3- Target low hanging fruits always for implementation for momentum build up 4- Recognise good work by rewarding and appreciation. A simple “Thank you” note leads to “Zero defect” 5- Build a sense of belonging to the work and individual who value add 6- Do not get bogged down if mistakes happen always learn from them 7- Never audit a person but the process “Audit is a fact finding exercise and not a fault finding”

Every test can be automated , but does every test need to be automated? Over the last decades of my experience as a test engineer, I've had to explain this on numerous occasions to managers/leaders who thought that automation was the answer alone to all the quality issues. Automation is a safeguard regression suite. There are multiple test scenarios that need the creativity of a test engineer to detect tricky bugs.

One of the important things in QA is the involvement of QA resources from the requirement phase. The cost of quality increases as we move along the SDLC. A bug/defect captured in production environment costs 100 times more than it is captured in the requirement or design phase of SDLC.

Innovative approaches to solving Quality Assurance (QA) problems involve leveraging cutting-edge technologies and methodologies. This includes harnessing data analytics and artificial intelligence for real-time analysis and prediction, automating testing processes to enhance efficiency and coverage, utilizing blockchain for transparency and traceability, and incorporating Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and predictive maintenance strategies for proactive quality monitoring. By embracing these innovations, organizations can not only streamline QA processes but also ensure higher product and service quality, reduce downtime, and enhance customer satisfaction.

The automation was all my passion and focusing where my past employer was never want to due to the business profiting reasons or /and the abilities of motivate various departments to work toward a tire automated process! My efforts were to do from the front line with what I can control and using my past experiences and knowledge to do what I can! So far the shop I was work for may still doing the same thing but wrapping all up as nice and prestige so that the clients still may buy into the product!

There are many examples of AI application in testing ranging from the automation of such work as writing test cases, test plans, generating test data, and analyzing results Continuing with the automatic generation of autotests In fact, it all depends on the creativity of engineers who want to simplify their lives Still, all these solutions in most cases will require supervision from QA, but it is definitely a thing that should be used in work

QA should take advantage of of these technologies AI/ ML and apply these techniques in practice to leverage their skills and make Quality process more efficient.

What see with the AI may be a revolutionary tool to evolve the casino gaming industry especially in the accounting system. Many products currently in the market were heavily dependent on the documentation and lacking the simplification of daily actionable steps! The AI may help deeply on picking up the focus points and provide the much shorter and reminder steps to better use of the long and heavy contents from the original!

As of today: tests developed using AI are more stable for unit testing and integration testing but less so for ETE testing.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) can be harnessed to enhance QA processes. 2. These technologies can analyze vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and predict potential defects or areas of concern. 3. AI-powered testing tools can perform tasks such as test case generation, test data management, and even automation script generation.

Agile, if not applied correctly to the right situation, always ends up as an overhead which severely affects the productivity of engineers. In a few of my projects, it ended up more as a compulsion that a real requirement, where productivity was hampered instead of being bolstered. There are times where I've still found the good ol' MS Excel sheet apt for project execution tracking.

Again, agility is never simple as the real step vs just a talk! I saw many talented people and system where the supporters made them slow and clumsy due to profiting focus instead of efficiency and effectiveness goal! It may be due to the leadership or it may be the culture is only focusing on some limited business oriented past setup! The agile is always evolving and it is a progress never an end.

The Shift-Left approach incorporates testing early in the development process, identifying issues sooner and reducing rework.

It is recommended to reach a situation where the automatic environment works in CI CD and "continues" only when the tests pass successfully.

Agile and DevOps methodologies promote collaboration, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. By adopting these approaches, development and QA teams can work closely together, facilitate faster decision-making, and ensure that testing is integrated into the development process from the beginning. This helps in reducing delays and ensuring higher product quality.

Crowdsourcing test activities has many advantages like tests are being done based on different perspectives and level of experiences. But it also has drawbacks as it needs lots of time to communicate with all parties involved in aligning on the purpose and needs of the project as well as time to triage tickets.

Crowdsourced testing provides a wide range of devices, platforms, and user scenarios for testing, ensuring comprehensive coverage that might be challenging with an in-house team. The diverse perspectives and experiences of the crowd bring unique insights, uncovering issues that might be overlooked in traditional testing. Moreover, this method allows for scalability, enabling organizations to conduct testing at a larger scale within shorter time frames. Crowdsourced testing not only enhances test coverage and depth but also offers cost-effective solutions, making it a valuable and innovative component of a robust Quality Assurance strategy.

This area will needs two different groups so that it could be double checking that is exactly what I was involvement with the casino gaming specifically on the slot data system! One on the devices flow the revenue and the other is the data tracked by the application involved with multiple groups!

Crowdsourced testing involves leveraging a diverse group of testers from around the world to evaluate the software. This approach provides access to a wide range of devices, platforms, and user perspectives. It can be particularly useful for testing in diverse environments, uncovering real-world issues, and gaining feedback from a large user base.

QA professionals should continuously explore and experiment with new testing tools and techniques. The software testing landscape is constantly evolving, with new tools and methodologies emerging. Staying up-to-date with industry trends and evaluating new tools can lead to more efficient and effective testing processes. Pick atleast 3-4 different tools, do a POC for one of your use case with these tools and see which fits your requirements perfectly.

In any field it is always important to learn and progress. It is recommended to join groups on all social networks (WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn), podcasts and YouTube channels for enrichment in the field.

To have good quality of any product, QA team should have good knowledge of the product they are testing. This is very critical because if they know the product they know which are all critical areas they need to focus more , and which are areas are repetitive which can be automated with right tools.

To provide a quality work, one should dig down to the root. One should consider that task as his own task. Whenever we have to do something for ourself we try every aspect without losing energy, no need of motivation and no distraction come in between.

Embracing new tools in QA is like adding spice to your testing recipe – it keeps things interesting! It's like trying out different flavors in a tech buffet – Postman, JMeter, ZAP, and Axe are the avant-garde chefs in your testing kitchen. Just remember, in the world of QA, a dash of curiosity, a sprinkle of flexibility, and a pinch of evaluation make for a perfect blend of professionalism and humor!

Shift-Left Testing Shift-left testing is an approach where testing activities start earlier in the software development lifecycle, often incorporating Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). With this method, you can create more stable and clear stories and tasks for whole team.