Testing Transformed: QA’s New Role in Digital Transformation – Part 1

This is a two-part post exploring how Quality Assurance (QA) is evolving in the digital transformation era. Key points include:

1. Digital transformation as a cultural shift, not just a technological upgrade
2. QA’s transition from perceived bottleneck to strategic enabler
3. New expectations for QA: automation, adaptability, and proactive insights
4. The shift towards cross-functional teams and T-shaped skills in QA
5. Strategies for QA professionals to build influence across the organization
6. Future trends in QA and how to prepare for them

I’ve been in the tech industry long enough to see “Digital Transformation” evolve from a trendy catchphrase to a critical business imperative. But what does it really mean in 2024?

Let’s start with the basics and build a baseline:

Digital transformation isn’t just about upgrading your tech stack—it’s a fundamental reimagining of how a business operates and delivers value to its customers through digital technologies.

In the early 2000s to mid-2010s, many companies thought they were “transforming” by simply replacing their legacy systems with shinier, more modern alternatives. But as someone who’s witnessed these transitions firsthand, I can tell you that true transformation goes far beyond new software.

As the IT industry has matured and agile methodologies have swept through like an unstoppable tide, we’ve come to understand that digital transformation is mainly about cultural change coupled with technology upgrades. It’s about fostering an organizational mindset that:

• Continuously challenges the status quo
• Embraces experimentation
• Gets comfortable with failure as a stepping stone to innovation

As organizations undergo digital transformation, QA becomes both a responsive element, adjusting to new technologies and methodologies, and a driving force, shaping how software is conceived, developed, and delivered.

In this post, I’ll focus more on the human element and less on technologies.

Outside In: How the Engineering World Perceives QA

Traditional Views: QA as a Bottleneck or Necessary Evil

Historically, QA has been seen as a roadblock. Many engineering leaders viewed it as the last hurdle before release. QA was often (most often unfairly) blamed for slowing down development. “We could release faster if not for QA,” was a common coffee corner gossip.

Quantifying QA’s value posed challenges. Unlike feature development, QA’s impact wasn’t immediately visible. Skeptics struggled to see beyond bug counts & infinitely large test sets. This perception led to tensions. QA teams felt undervalued. Developers saw QA as a hurdle to overcome, not a partner in creation.

Evolving Perceptions on QA: From cost center to value creator

Digital transformation (along with organizations embracing agility) is changing these views. Engineering teams are recognizing QA’s strategic importance and are beginning to see QA as an ally, not an adversary.

Many engineering leaders also now recognize QA as a critical skill, as much as analysis or coding is (sometimes not as loudly as they need to).

Digital transformations tend to be high in cost & complexity by nature. In such environments, the cost of failure (& delay) is high. While almost everyone would agree that a bug is a lot cheaper to fix in a development environment rather than in production, most engineering leaders didn’t appreciate the role of QA in actually making it work.

However, as the world evolves faster and product quality has become a differentiator, engineering leaders are no longer able to push QA aside (or to the end of the process).

QA is being involved earlier in the development process. However this additional influence is not free, QA teams must now cater to different sets of expectations.

Expectations from QA in Digital Transformation

While QA is gaining a seat at the decision-making table, the expectations are also evolving. QA leaders are also expected to be thought leaders who’ll help push the boundaries of software engineering. Read this blog to know more: The Importance of Digital Transformation Quality

The pace of digital transformation also demands evolution & QA is expected to keep up. Faster, more efficient testing processes are now the norm.

Some areas that QA professionals should expect change below, this is not an exhaustive list but more a conversation starter.

• Automation is no longer optional: Engineers expect QA to leverage automated testing tools. This helps in faster feedback loops and more comprehensive test coverage. Also, a faster delivery with incremental scope simply does not work without a clever automation (& regression test) strategy.
• Adaptability is crucial: QA professionals must understand and adapt to new technologies. Cloud computing, AI, IoT – QA needs to be versed in testing these complex systems. All industries are merging (or evolving) into tech industries, and the amalgamation of technologies continues to push the boundaries of what has been traditionally considered as ‘testing’.
• Proactive quality insights are the new goal: Reactive bug-finding is not enough. Engineers want QA to predict potential issues before they occur. This requires a deep understanding of the product and its ecosystem. For instance, QA teams can use tools like LambdaTest Test Intelligence to anticipate and mitigate future issues before they take root.
• Data-driven decision-making is expected: QA must provide meaningful metrics and insights. These help in making informed decisions about product readiness and release timing. The cost of delay might be huge, but the cost of failure after going into production might be intolerable – this is where QA professionals need to help organizations make balanced decisions.
• Continuous testing in DevOps environments is becoming standard: QA is expected to integrate seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines. This ensures quality at every stage of development. QA professionals need to think about design to deployment, not just the QA phases.

These are great expectations, but how do they turn into reality? Let’s dive deeper on where the QA community needs to transform itself in many ways.

Transforming QA Team Structures

As expectations for QA in digital transformation evolve, so must the structure and capabilities of QA teams. The transition from traditional testing roles to strategic quality enablers requires a fundamental shift in how QA teams operate. Let’s explore the key areas of transformation.

The era of siloed QA teams is fading thanks to organizations adapting to more agile delivery models in their large-scale transformations. By definition, agile models reiterate the need to have cross-functional teams that can take care of everything from design to deployment within the same team.

While every team member is not expected to be skilled at everything, everyone is expected to be a specialist in one area and contribute to the team in another area. Naturally, this also means that QA professionals are now expected to possess T-shaped skills: deep testing expertise coupled with broad knowledge across development, operations, and business domains.

Cross-functional teams, where QA works side-by-side with development and operations, are becoming the norm. This proximity fosters faster feedback loops, quicker issue resolution, and a shared responsibility for quality. QA’s involvement in activities like code reviews, sprint planning, and deployment strategies is no longer exceptional—it’s expected.

T-shaped QA engineers also act as bridges between disciplines. They can effectively communicate with developers about code, discuss deployment strategies with operations, and translate technical issues into business impact for stakeholders. This versatility is not just an advantage, but rather a requirement.

Gain more insights into the evolving roles of QA and SDET roles:

QA as Consultants and Enablers: A Day in the Life

The role of QA is evolving from gatekeepers to quality advocates and enablers. Hopefully, I’ve convinced you of that earlier. But you ask me – what does that mean in practice? How will my life change tomorrow if I sign up to this way of working?

Let’s walk through a typical day in the life of a QA professional embracing this new consultative role (these are some examples for inspiration, please pause and think about circumstances in your daily life where you can apply this mindset).

1. Morning Stand-up: You’re actively discussing the quality implications of new features. Example: “I’ve reviewed the new checkout flow. Have we considered how it handles multiple currencies? I can work with Dev to create test scenarios for this.”
2. Requirements Review: You’re collaborating with product managers on acceptance criteria. Example: “For the new search feature, let’s add performance criteria. How about ‘Search results should load within 2 seconds for 95% of queries’?”
3. Design Meeting: You’re providing input on how design choices might impact testability. Example: “If we modularize this component, we can easily mock its dependencies in our automated tests, making them more reliable and faster to run.”
4. Pair Programming Session: You’re pairing with a developer, helping to write unit tests. Example: “Let’s write a test for when the API returns an empty response. This will help us handle edge cases more gracefully.”
5. CI/CD Pipeline Review: You’re suggesting new automated checks in the pipeline. Example: “We could add a static code analysis step here. It would catch potential security vulnerabilities before they even reach code review.”
6. Metrics Dashboard Creation: You’re building a dashboard that translates technical quality metrics into business impact. Example: “This graph shows how our improved test coverage correlates with a 30% reduction in customer-reported bugs over the last quarter.”
7. Coaching Session: You’re holding a workshop on shift-left testing practices. Example: “Today, we’ll practice writing testable user stories. This will help us catch ambiguities earlier and reduce back-and-forth during development.”
8. Production Issue Analysis: You’re diving deep into a production issue, suggesting changes to test strategies. Example: “This outage was caused by an edge case in data migration. Let’s add a specific test suite for migration scenarios to prevent this in the future.”

In this new role, you’re no longer just finding bugs – you’re preventing them. You’re not just executing tests – you’re shaping how quality is perceived and achieved across the entire organization. Your expertise is sought after at every stage of development, and you’re driving a culture where quality is truly everyone’s responsibility.

This shift requires a change in mindset and skills. You’ll need to develop stronger communication skills, deepen your technical knowledge across the stack, and cultivate the ability to influence without direct authority. But the impact you’ll have on product quality and team efficiency will be transformative.

Automated testing tools like LambdaTest, with its comprehensive platform for cross-browser testing and automation, can be a powerful ally for QA teams in this new era. By providing access to a vast array of real devices and browsers, LambdaTest accelerates testing cycles and ensures product quality across different platforms.

Read part 2 to unlock more insights on the evolving role of QA engineers in the landscape of digital landscape.

Ilam Padmanabhan

Ilam Padmanabhan is a seasoned Tech/Financial services expert with a history of delivering multi-million dollar global projects in various Delivery and QA roles. He frequently authors articles on his personal website where he explores the latest industry trends, cutting-edge technologies, and best practices for thriving in today’s rapidly evolving landscape.

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