Software Testing: Effective communication techniques

“It works on my machine” is the common theme even in these days of containers! Streamlined communication using various techniques hold the key to being effective Software Testing professional. In this blog, let’s look at the various situations involved in the software development life cycle and how the software tester needs to use effective communication techniques.

Requirements gathering, analysis, and management

In some situations, a Product Manager or the Product Owner alone is involved in collecting requirements, communicate them to the developers, and developers in turn share those with the testers. In that process, there are many chances of miscommunication and misalignment between the various team members. This can be avoided by streamlining communication channels for all in the team be informed of customer requirements and preferences, and testers getting involved in requirements gathering, analysis, and management. Testers can give them valuable feedback on the requirements. For this to be effective, testers need to have sound knowledge of the industry, domain, and business. The feedback loop between the customers and all members of the product team should be active, and any changes in requirements should be communicated to all team members in a streamlined fashion.

Communication With Developers

Streamlined communication with developers with techniques like architecture and design reviews, ‘Ensemble Programming’, instant communication platforms, getting clarified immediately over meetings rather than waiting for inputs through formal documentation are some of the ways to streamline communication. Sharing information about defects in the most detailed way possible will enable developers to get complete picture of them so that they can be fixed as soon as possible. Providing inputs at each stage of the product development from requirements to code will need communication channels. Organisations’ management need to facilitate the efforts for Software Testing team members getting involved in these activities.

Ongoing information/knowledge sharing and continuing education

As I wrote some time back, continuous learning is so important in these days of constant change. Ongoing information and knowledge sharing within the team, and facilitating education on the software testing techniques, industry/domain/business knowledge, and technology is key in keeping the product tribe up-to-date on what’s happening in order to ensure best product quality.

To conclude, the three key areas of effective communication for the software testers are:

• Requirements gathering, analysis, and management
• Communication with the developers
• Ongoing education

If organisations can ensure that these above happen well, it would be a great step in fostering effective communication among software testers with the other teams and stakeholders thus enabling better product quality. Hope you got a good clarity on the topic of “Software Testing: Effective Communication Techniques”. For designing an effective communication framework in your organisation for software testers, feel free to get in touch with me. Glad to help!