Get Help when You Need It

If you want to enjoy your job and not worry about lack of resources, or have old, outdated strategies, with failing or meaningless test automation – get help!

We all know about globalization. Markets are global, products are global, mobile is global and software development is a global. As a result, the workforce is increasingly distributed and diverse. Home team, multiple away teams, based on skill, based on time zone, on locale, availability—there are many reasons.

With all the diversity and growing demand, good help is hard to find. And, there are an increasing number of situations where getting outside help is essential. From senior consultants and auditors to automation and test engineers, to brute force manual testers, there are many positions to fill. Needs range from building a new test strategy to test case production to executing regression testing, and the solutions to all of these will vary.

A successful outsource engagement is able to bridge any gaps between you and higher productivity, smarter testing, more cost efficient quality practices and higher customer satisfaction. Outsourcing is not the only way to get help. Not every people problem can be solved by hiring someone! But often, the best way to get a quick influx of expert ideas, skills, tools, automation or execution is to go outside your organization. A good consultant can implement simple solutions to complex problems to get you to higher levels of competency. If you encounter any of the situations below more than occasionally, maybe it’s time to get outsourced help.

• If you have no clear, defined test strategy, get help.
• If you let short-term release fluctuations interfere with your long-term strategy, get help.
• If you often run out of testing time, get help.
• If your testing and test coverage are not defined or varies too much from release to release, get help.
• If your test automation is hard to maintain, get help.
• If you have no test automation, get help.
• If your smoke tests are not automated and included in your Continuous Integration process, get help.

Michael Hackett Michael is a co-founder of LogiGear Corporation, and has over two decades of experience in software engineering in banking, securities, healthcare and consumer electronics. Michael is a Certified Scrum Master and has co-authored two books on software testing. Testing Applications on the Web: Test Planning for Mobile and Internet-Based Systems (Wiley, 2nd ed. 2003), and Global Software Test Automation (Happy About Publishing, 2006). He is a founding member of the Board of Advisors at the University of California Berkeley Extension and has taught for the Certificate in Software Quality Engineering and Management at the University of California Santa Cruz Extension. As a member of IEEE, his training courses have brought Silicon Valley testing expertise to over 16 countries. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

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Michael Hackett

Michael is a co-founder of LogiGear Corporation, and has over two decades of experience in software engineering in banking, securities, healthcare and consumer electronics. Michael is a Certified Scrum Master and has co-authored two books on software testing. Testing Applications on the Web: Test Planning for Mobile and Internet-Based Systems (Wiley, 2nd ed. 2003), and Global Software Test Automation (Happy About Publishing, 2006). He is a founding member of the Board of Advisors at the University of California Berkeley Extension and has taught for the Certificate in Software Quality Engineering and Management at the University of California Santa Cruz Extension. As a member of IEEE, his training courses have brought Silicon Valley testing expertise to over 16 countries. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.