Outsourcing – A Way to Complement or Replace Your QA Staff?

Tom Igielski
President
The Thomas Consulting Group, Inc.

Description:

Outsourcing can be an effective means of helping you to address your QA/Testing needs, but like any capital asset, it needs to be planned for and managed in a predetermined manner to deliver the best benefit. Outsourced testing efforts can either be considered as a means of augmenting your current staff, or it can be a way to offload complete project work.

Learning Objective:

• When and where to think about using outsourcing efforts for QA tasks
• How to organize your staff / projects when dealing with outsource agencies
• How to articulate and ensure deliverables both for your staff and the outsource agency
• How to ensure there is knowledge transfer from the outsource agency to your staff
• How to identify and prevent potential problems from occurring when using an outsource agency
• How to build a relationship with an outsource agency for future work

Outline:

• Definition and Discussion of Outsourcing
• Discussion of Outsourcing Models (Project Organization)
• Determining if your Organization is a Good Candidate for Engaging with an Outsourced Resource
• Potential QA Outsourced Tasks
• Balancing Your QA Staff Workload Using Outsourced Services
• Your Organizational Responsibilities to the Outsourcing Agency
• ROI Implications of Using an Outsourcing Model
• Outsourcing Deliverables – What to Expect / Demand
• Potential Problems Associated with Outsourced QA Efforts
• Knowledge Transfer to Internal Staff
• Service Level Agreements ( SLA ’s)

Biography:

Tom Igielski has over 30 years of experience that includes working with all aspects of the software development lifecycle. Tom is currently the owner and principal of The Thomas Consulting Group, Inc., a Twin Cities based company that specializes in Quality Assurance, Automated Testing, Software Development Process and Application Performance Management. Tom has amassed most of his experience managing infrastructure and quality assurance efforts being addressed by large, multi-divisional companies.