Software testing in the future - Interview with Nico Liedl

Nico Liedl is a quality engineer and advisor with a focus on agile quality management, test automation, process improvement and organizational change. He has gained experience in various complex large-scale projects. As a team member, scrum master, test strategist, release manager and trainer, he has practical experience and theoretical expertise to offer and would like to share this experience with a broad audience. In addition, as a speaker at specialist conferences and author of specialist articles, he is always in a lively exchange with the agile tester community.

The software world is changing. Technological developments are happening at breakneck speed and the world of work is also constantly changing. One thing is clear: both technology and the environment have a massive impact on quality and software testing. Be it AI, AR, blockchain, quantum and co - or home office, agility, digitalization and new work.

What challenges will software testing have to face in the future?

It is crucial to get the agile transformation right and really switch to new working models. Most projects are currently in the middle of this process.

What ideas or solutions could address these challenges?

It is necessary to approach the issues in a meaningful way and develop solutions for them. This is currently a topic where a great deal of personal effort is still required, as there are not yet any truly robust assets for it.

Our HoaQ model can help here. Initially, the focus should be on the basics. This is followed by the establishment of resilient structures and then the umbrella development of lean quality management, which covers topics such as AI, AR, blockchain, quantum, etc., can follow. In my opinion, there is still a lot of potential here.

What does future testing look like? How will we test?

We will continue to be driven by technology and the speed that comes with it. As testers, we will therefore have to stretch ourselves further and further to be able to cope with all this with new roles such as SDET (Software Developer in Test).

The other area is coaching. Quality and appropriate methodologies must be rolled out to the entire team through targeted coaching roles and the associated training. Shared responsibility must be borne by the team and accepted as a matter of course.

Once these roles are in place, you can start your journey with the corresponding SMEs. How do you get there? There are fewer and fewer assets that can be reused. Solutions must be increasingly adapted and developed for the individual environment.

How can testers and test managers prepare for this today?

Living in a truly agile working environment is essential.

It is important to eliminate projects that are “faking” the new way of working but are ultimately still trapped in the waterfall.

Test managers belong on the shelf, because you can’t exemplify “New Work” with this wording. In my environment, quality engineers are the people who seriously strive for self-organized work and personal responsibility in the team.

Responsibility must ultimately be shared and the quality engineer is responsible for ensuring that this sharing does not lead to additional work and duplication of effort. He must resolve overlaps and lead the projects to the ideal through continuous improvement.

Book summary (enu):

Toni Morrison once said: “If there’s a book you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, you have to write it yourself.”

So that’s what we’ve done. Who hasn’t struggled in the past with the combination of quality assurance/testing and agile or even agile methods? Well, we have!

As we repeatedly saw this gap in many different projects, we began developing the “House of Agile Quality” (HoaQ) concept. The tried-and-tested, pragmatic HoaQ framework has already helped numerous companies to master the challenges of large solution delivery. HoaQ fills the gap between agile frameworks and test frameworks on the one hand and bridges the strategic and tactical levels of lean quality management on the other.