Today’s webinar is presented by Iain McCowatt and he will discuss The Commoditization of Testing. Welcome to the EuroSTAR October Webinar Series www.eurostarconferences.com This webinar is due to start at 12pm BST. Make sure you stick around at the end for the Q&A session and continue the conversation with the speaker on Twitter after the show! @escon fs #escon
"The Commoditization of Testing" with Iain Mc Cowatt
May 10, 2015
View webinar: http://www.eurostarconferences.com/community/member/webinar-archive/webinar-85-the-commoditization-of-testing
The software testing business is in the grip of a commoditization trend in which enterprises routinely flip flop between vendors-vendors who are engaged in a race to the bottom on price. This trend introduces perverse incentives for service providers, undervalues skill, and places excessive emphasis on processes, tools, and methods. The result is a dumbing down of testing and the creation of testing services that are little more than placebos.
Using examples drawn from three recent projects in the banking industry, Iain McCowatt explores the dynamics of commoditization and introduces a quality model that can be used for framing the value of testing services. As a testing vendor, learn how to pursue a differentiation strategy, shifting the emphasis of the testing conversation from cost to value; as a customer of testing, learn how to make informed decisions about the value of what you are buying; as a tester, learn how to buck the trend and find professional growth.
Biography:
Iain McCowatt is a context-driven tester, test manager and automator whose experience and passion for testing spans multiple industries and more than a decade. As a Test Practice Lead and Program Test Manager with CGI in Atlantic Canada, he specializes in providing clients with innovative solutions to difficult testing problems and in building teams that place an emphasis on the skill of the tester. Having been both a customer and provider of testing, Iain takes a particular interest in the value that testing can provide. In his spare time, Iain is active in the software testing community, serves as a volunteer instructor with the Association of Software Testing, and blogs at exploringuncertainty.com
The software testing business is in the grip of a commoditization trend in which enterprises routinely flip flop between vendors-vendors who are engaged in a race to the bottom on price. This trend introduces perverse incentives for service providers, undervalues skill, and places excessive emphasis on processes, tools, and methods. The result is a dumbing down of testing and the creation of testing services that are little more than placebos.
Using examples drawn from three recent projects in the banking industry, Iain McCowatt explores the dynamics of commoditization and introduces a quality model that can be used for framing the value of testing services. As a testing vendor, learn how to pursue a differentiation strategy, shifting the emphasis of the testing conversation from cost to value; as a customer of testing, learn how to make informed decisions about the value of what you are buying; as a tester, learn how to buck the trend and find professional growth.
Biography:
Iain McCowatt is a context-driven tester, test manager and automator whose experience and passion for testing spans multiple industries and more than a decade. As a Test Practice Lead and Program Test Manager with CGI in Atlantic Canada, he specializes in providing clients with innovative solutions to difficult testing problems and in building teams that place an emphasis on the skill of the tester. Having been both a customer and provider of testing, Iain takes a particular interest in the value that testing can provide. In his spare time, Iain is active in the software testing community, serves as a volunteer instructor with the Association of Software Testing, and blogs at exploringuncertainty.com
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Transcript
www.eurostarconferences.com
Today’s webinar is presented by Iain McCowatt and he will discuss The Commoditization of Testing.
Welcome to the EuroSTAR October Webinar Series
This webinar is due to start at 12pm BST. Make sure you stick around at the end for the Q&A session and continue the conversation with the speaker on Twitter after the show!
@esconfs#esconfs
www.eurostarconferences.com
The Commoditization of Testing
Iain McCowatt, UKThe software testing business is in the grip of a commoditization trend in which enterprises routinely flip
flop between vendors—vendors who are engaged in a race to the bottom on price. This trend introduces perverse incentives for service providers, undervalues skill, and places excessive emphasis on
processes, tools, and methods. The result is a dumbing down of testing and the creation of testing services that are little more than placebos.
Using examples drawn from three recent projects in the banking industry, Iain McCowatt explores the dynamics of commoditization and introduces a quality model that can be used for framing the value of
testing services. As a testing vendor, learn how to pursue a differentiation strategy, shifting the emphasis of the testing conversation from cost to value; as a customer of testing, learn how to make informed decisions about the value of what you are buying; as a tester, learn how to buck the trend and find
professional growth."
@esconfs#esconfs
Q&A
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@imccowatt
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The Commoditization of Testing
• What this presentation is• What this presentation is not
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Project #1
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Project #1
• An opportunity• Staffing decisions• Things start to unravel• Micromanagement, master/slave• Focus on process, KPIs galore
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Project #1
GAME OVER
• This wasn’t the first testing vendor• Nor were they the last• There will be more
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Commoditization: Introduction
• Investopedia:• When a product becomes indistinguishable from others like it and consumers
buy on price alone, it becomes a commodity
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Commoditization: Where?
• More common in the enterprise, particularly in organizations with global buying power• Endemic in the consulting industry• May be less common amongst software vendors
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Commoditization: Origins
• How to run fast: put one foot in front of the other, quickly• Who here could win Olympic gold?
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Commoditization: Origins
• A lot of people see testing like this:
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Test PlanWrite scriptsExecute Cycle 1Execute Cycle 2Execute Cycle 3Sign off
Commoditization: Dynamics
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Perceivedas low skill
Perceivedas commodity
Supply ofcheap testing
Demand forcheap testing
Supply ofskilled testers
Collaboration
Demand forskilled testers
Testingfailures
Negative effectChoice of effect
Commoditization: Dynamics
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Vendor B competes on value
Vendor B competes on price
Vendor A competes on value
Vendor A competes on price
Both stand to win long term relationshipsCustomers get better testing
Vendor A: grows market shareVendor B: loses market share
Vendor A: loses market shareVendor B: grows market share
Race to the bottom: short term revenue, short term relationships Everyone loses
Commoditization: Consequences
• Master/Slave, chilling effects on collaboration• Information starvation• Fungibility and economic incentive to “juniorize”• Focus on control, process and method• Demand for skill suppressed• …and ultimately the projects suffer
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Project #2
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Project #2
• What’s the problem?• Your competition can do it cheaper• No budget!• If IBM said it, it must be true• Let’s give it a try
• That was a leap of faith, but…
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Project #2
A Happy Client
• A second year, a second release• A growing portfolio
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Spot the Difference
• This was not a commodity testing service.• But what was different?
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Sources of Differentiation
• People• Passion• Skill• Creativity
• Relationships and trust• New ideas, new technologies• Location
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NOT Sources of Differentiation
• Process• Methodology, branded or otherwise• Templates and other “accelerators”• Tools and technology, unless new and unique• ISO, CMMI etc.• Just about anything easily replicated or at home in buzzword bingo
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Project #3
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Project #3
• Passion speaks volumes• The managed service misnomer• Early conversations, aspects of quality• Where’s the code?• Tests as experiments
• Just getting started, but…
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Project #3
The Future Looks Bright
• Taking a very different approach to predecessor• Building on a solid relationships• And pricing? Part of the conversation, but not defining it
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Reframing the Conversation
• We focus on software quality but rarely discuss the quality of testing• Perhaps a quality model might help?• This model formed part of the conversation on Project #3…
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A Model of Testing Quality
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What can you do?
Customer
• Observe vendor behavior: are they interested in you and your problem?• Do they understand your problem?• Do they care?• Do they have any ideas?• Do they have the skills to deliver?
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Vender
• Dare to be different• Sack the salesmen, consult• Be prepared to say “No”:• If they want it cheap, let them go somewhere else• Don’t follow anyone off a ledge
• Education, education, education• Shared values => relationship => business worth doing
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Tester
• Empowerment starts with YOU• Don’t wait to be given a learning agenda• Learn how to learn• Learn anything and everything that might help you• Select, remix, invent
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A Final Word
• Commodity testing isn’t going anywhere: both demand and supply will remain• Some of us (vendors) are successfully exploiting this to build differentiated
services• This shows there is a demand for something better• Skilled testers can find fulfilling roles
• …see you in Gothenburg!
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