Does anyone have any comments on outsourcing QA?
Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
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Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#2Used to work at a place that tried outsourcing QA. Truly awful idea. They started off by just trying to get them to document the process they would be using to QA. They failed.
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#3Out of curiousity -- is 'UAW' United Auto Workers?
I would find it funny that they were outsourcing ANYTHING.
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#4Out of curiousity -- is 'UAW' United Auto Workers? I would find it funny that they were outsourcing ANYTHING.
yes, 'UAW' are the United Auto Workers.
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#5I am not sure that it is completely honest to label this as a horror story about 'outsourcing' per-se. I take it as a horror story about lack of skills, unprofessionalism, and mismanagement. After all, who picked the QA team?
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#6Title is overgeneralizing. A lot depends on how teams and communication are set up.
I have had success in outsourcing QA. The key is to either have people onshore who can communicate with them over phones or someone offshore who is a good communicator and have him/her explain things in person.
>Matthew/Chicago: I think I’m in the Twilight Zone.
Can't 'Matt' fathom that his message might be confusing to a non-native speaker? Couldn't he have put it in plain words before just firing someone over IM in a rage?
There is a proper way to 'let go' of people even if you think they are morons. Maybe it was a show-off to the '20 very concerned UAW workers' in the room?
'Hey, looks like we failed at outsourcing properly, but I just fired the guy responsible for this mess. That should make it okay, right?'
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#7Matthew/Chicago: Srini did you skip everything that was not working and just mark it passed?
Srinivasanu/India: Yes Matt
Overseas QA: Same results as domestic, now with 70% more honesty.
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#8Title is overgeneralizing. A lot depends on how teams and communication are set up. I have had success in outsourcing QA. The key is to either have people onshore who can communicate with them over phones or someone offshore who is a good communicator and have him/her explain things in person. >Matthew/Chicago: I think I’m in the Twilight Zone. Can't 'Matt' fathom that his message might be confusing to a non-native s…
After the guy admits that he simply ignored failed tests and marked the QA as passed, I think the time for kind and easy to understand communication is long past.
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#9The fundamental is that you can't outsource skilled knowledge labour piecemeal. You either outsource everything, and provide a third party with a functional specification, timings, and the financial means to fulfil those two, or you are, as they say, fucked. If you attempt to outsource individual components of a project to multiple physical locations in disparate timezones, you'll inevitably have a communications disconnect, and shit will hit fans. Developers need to talk to users need to talk to QA need to talk to management. Keep the lines open and clear, and everything goes smooth as a greased-up polecat in a cement mixer. Fail to do so, and everything suffers.
In this scenario, it'd seem that the poor bastards in Uttar Pradesh or wherever-the-fuck don't have a clue as to what's going on. If they did, they'd probably do a halfway competent job. I've worked with QA teams in India and China in the past, and it's been an excellent experience - because we communicated with them non-stop. It would have been preferable to keep those elements on-site, however the parent company of the client we worked with were insistent that we utilise their resources - and because they managed them well, the arrangement was tenable.
Anyway. Don't blame the outsourcee - blame yourself for either making a shitty decision or mismanaging the resources you've acquired.
Re: Maybe outsourcing QA isn't such a good idea after all.
#10Out of curiousity -- is 'UAW' United Auto Workers? I would find it funny that they were outsourcing ANYTHING.
Sounded like a manufacturing system -- probably Ford/GM's call, not UAW's.