Collaboration and communication between the developer and the QA are vital in the software development process. The developers are working on developing some features, while the QA is responsible for testing those features, but both of the roles have only one end goal, and that is to deliver high-quality software to the end customers. When communication between these two roles breaks down, it can lead to misunderstandings, missed defects, or delays in the release cycle.
Here are Some Tips for Effective Collaboration:
Communicate Early and Often
It is very important to communicate with the developers and the other team members during the whole sprint cycle, in all the phases. Even in the refinement or planning phase, communicate with the developers about the scenarios that should be tested, the automation tests that will need to be developed for the new features, about the potential need for regression testing, etc.
Maintaining communication during the whole process will prevent misunderstandings, it will help in knowledge sharing, help in planning the activities for the sprint, and prevent bugs.
Participate in Stand-ups and Meetings
This is an addition to the one that we mentioned before. Joining daily stand-up meetings can help you stay aligned with the development team’s progress. In these meetings, you can ask questions, give updates, share knowledge, and get insights into the challenges developers are facing.
And don’t limit yourself only to the Stand-Up meetings. Participate in the other team meetings as well. That will help you in maintaining communication and will help you in the testing process.
Clarify Requirements Together
Working together with a developer is very important and can help you a lot in clarifying the software requirements. Working together to clarify requirements can help both testers and developers avoid unnecessary back-and-forth later on. Sometimes it is also useful and helpful to do pair-testing with a developer. In this way, the developer will see the scenarios that you are testing and how you perform the testing. Also, the developer can help you by giving you some opinions, and tips, or can answer your questions by having direct access to the code and the database, etc.
So definitely working together and clarifying the requirements together with a developer can be very helpful from a lot of different aspects.
Focus on Collaboration, Not Blame
As we said before, the developers and QA have only one end goal, and that is to deliver high-quality software to the end customers. Bugs are a natural part of the development process. During your work as a QA, you will find very obvious, very critical bugs, but you will also find some hidden or minor bugs. But no matter what type of bug you find, you should never blame anyone for that, because you are a team who is working toward one main goal. Look at the bugs as opportunities to improve the products and raise the quality. By fostering a positive, solutions-oriented environment, you can work with developers to find the root cause of issues and resolve them faster.
Use Common Tools
This is very simple. Use the tools that are agreed upon by the team. For example, if you are using JIRA/Confluence in your team, add all your QA documentation there along with the other project documentation. You can also write your test cases in JIRA and connect them with the user stories. If you are using some whiteboard tools like Miro, use them for some of your QA activities. This improves transparency and reduces the risk of misunderstandings.
Provide Clear and Detailed Bug Reports
When reporting a new bug, make sure you provide all the information that is needed. Write the environment, the client, and the testing device that you have been using, and write clear steps to reproduce, the expected behavior, actual behavior, screenshots, and all the other relevant logs. This will help developers to reproduce and fix the issue quickly and reduce the need for back-and-forth. This will speed up the development process.
As we saw from the previous tips and examples, building a strong working relationship between QA and developers ensures faster, more effective testing and bug resolution. Also, it creates a more collaborative and productive development environment.
