Tips to Build a Remote Testing Team

Lots of global markets have been affected by the global COVID-19 crisis. Millions of companies are forced to switch to a remote-based type of employment facing lots of difficulties with effective communication and cooperation. Software development companies are not an exception to this rule. When it comes to QA and testing, many of them prefer choosing crowd testing and outsourcing solutions to improve their development processes, while others might need to build a strong remote testing team by themselves. In this post, you will discover the hottest tips on how to build a productive remote QA team within the shortest terms. 

How to Build A Remote Testing Team and the alternatives  

Building a strong team of experts is not an easy task. Fortunately, there are some brilliant alternatives to building a remote testing team. Here are the options you can choose from: 

• Hire third-party nearshore service from an outsourcing company in your region or a nearby country.
• Start using a third-party offshore service from an outsourcing company in a low-cost country (for example, India, Ukraine, or Bulgaria) 
• Use a Freelancing platform such as UpWork or freelancer.com to hire professional QAs to work with you directly.
• Build your own offshore dedicated remote team. This is surely the most complicated, time-consuming, risky, and costly alternative, that is extremely difficult for any type of business. 
• Use Crowdsourced testing companies such as Ubertetsers to get access to thousands of global testers with devices to test under real-life conditions. Not only you will be able to benefit from getting the help of highly skilled testers but also cooperate with an assigned experienced project manager.

Top Challenges A Remote QA Team Can Easily Cope With 

Almost any modern business works within burning deadlines in a highly competitive environment. The leaders should make decisions fast, while the teams often need to complete the tasks ASAP. Below is a list of the most common challenges a remote team of QA professionals can cope with within no time. 

Complete All The Tasks On Time Before Release 

Facing strict deadlines is a common thing for plenty of QA teams. Fortunately, in-house teams can be easily extended with extra testing professionals. A remote software tester can accelerate the QA efforts of the entire team and make it possible to check all the necessary aspects of the product before the release. It is worth mentioning that crowd testers might become a perfect fit for these purposes – you can get help from professional testers with no need to come through all the stages of the hiring process. You can scale your QA testing and involve additional QA engineers anytime when you need it. 

Budget Saving 

Most companies have limited budgets for each product. But what if you need an extra QA with no ability to hire more in-house professionals? It’s time to get help from a remote software tester! You can easily benefit from getting assistance from crowd testing services with an assigned project manager and skilled QA professionals. Or you may try a different budget-friendly option such as using freelancing platforms and connecting with testers directly. This way, you will spend costs wisely and reach your development goals with no effort. 

Increase The Number Of Devices For Testing 

Each product should be tested in real-life conditions. However, it is often impossible to cover many locations, devices, carriers, and operating systems when being located in an office and in a single location. Remote QA testing is focused on solving this issue, too. Remote testers can test your app in various real-life conditions and show off the most detailed results within the shortest terms. 

Generally, the best option for most businesses is using a crowd testing platform. The fact is that this type of service allows getting fast access to a wide range of devices, operating systems, and carriers. Moreover, it is easy to use and affordable. 

Unbiased feedback  

There is nothing new that in-house developers and QA teams might become biased about the product they develop. By using remote external teams, especially using new testers in each cycle – you can get unbiased testers that are eager to find the product flaws in a fast and productive way. 

Hot Prompts On How To Build A Remote Testing Team

There are plenty of challenges to working remotely. However, you can still overcome all the difficulties and create an excellent remote QA team. What do you need to succeed? 

Use Various Types Of Communication Tools

Fruitful communication between the members of the team is usually key to a fast and productive development process. First of all, make sure to use chat tools to get all minor issues solved ASAP. This will help your team members keep in touch with each other and discuss the most burning issues fast. There are some great char tools out there that can be used such as Slack, Teams, Hangout, etc. Second, it is important to use audio and video calls for advanced communication. Feel free to use Skype, Zoom, or other apps to maintain a high level of cooperation between the team members. You can also arrange meetings daily or anytime you need to bring the entire team together. 

Use Project Management Tools 

Managing the remote QA teams is not as easy as it might seem at the first glance. Therefore, it is better to set up tasks and check their completion with the help of specialized online tools. This will help you track the results of each team member, as well as the team as a whole. This will also allow you to check all the necessary processes online with no need to distract the testing experts. Many experts believe that using professional project management tools is a must for remote teams. Some recommended tools as an example are Monday.com, Trello, Assana, G-Suite, and others. 

Don’t Forget To Use Automated Tests

Using automated tests is an inevitable part of any QA process. Make sure the remote testers have access to perform automated tests from their own location. This will boost your testing process and make it more productive. 

Use a dedicated project manager/team lead

It is important to have a dedicated project manager or team lead who will be responsible for your remote team. You can either hire an in-house professional for this purpose or find a team that already has a full time or part-time project manager. It might be also an excellent idea to use managed crowd testing services that usually offer a dedicated assigned project manager. This is an expert who can take care of the entire process and reduce the required management overhead from the company.

Use KPI System

Another great way to track the progress of your QA team is to set up a KPI system. It will help you monitor the results of each team member and allow the experts to understand their strong and weak points better. 

All in all, building a remote team of QA professionals is surely difficult. You need to set up effective communication, track the team’s performance, and make sure all experts have access to the necessary testing tools. However, all these issues can be easily solved. Crowd testing services can build an entire team of professionals for you! Just specify your needs and testing goals, and get your app tested in no-time by real experts on multiple devices for a reasonable cost.

Want to know more about testing your product remotely, and launching a much better and well tested product –  contact us at sales@ubertesters.com