Dedicated to Testing Excellence TMF Forum October 2008 Future of Testing In Turbulent Times

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra2 Topics How are we each being affected? Where are the affects being felt? Does industry sector make a difference? Does size matter? How can we best position ourselves? – Top 3 concerns – Top 3 priorities – Where’s the “smart” money going

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra3 Setting the context View of Future Trends before Credit Crunch What market conditions will we face Share views and experiences

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra4 Test Management Survey ‘Current State’ (uktmf.com) 2/3 rd of testers are in-house employees Of the rest, 10% contractors, 10% offshore, 10% onshore – 10% overall managed services Top 3 concerns: Automation, Test Design and Test Process Adequacy Methods: 68% structured, 13% agile, 17% informal Design: 20% always use basic techniques, <5% use formal techniques Roles: 75% career tester, rest have other roles too Certification: 53% Foundation, 7.5% Advanced

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra5 Summary of What we can expect (taken from Paul’s latest futures pitch) Steady progress towards better developer test, outsourced system test and specialised acceptance Consolidation, more open source in the tools market Whole-process, collaborative testing tools Virtualisation will become pervasive Training and certification becoming more practical Testing becoming more business focused Testing community will expand and mature Greater use of Crowd Sourcing? Outsourcing will continue and stabilise Interesting times for testers!

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra6 The Seven Dimensions of Testing Think about these during our discussion Attitudes Process and Techniques Improvement Tools Certification and Training Outsourcing People, skills and the job market

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra7 What’s happening “out there”? Recession is upon us – Short and shallow, Short and deep? – Long and shallow, Long and deep? Emerging economies are reducing manufacturing but may be better placed to continue growth and counter global market reduction – China, India, Brazil, and Russia on particular Recent Government meeting showed no sign of investment slow down or reduction Business focus – value for money, short ROI and differentiators

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra8 So, how are you being affected? Slow down Speed up Change approach Stop!

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra9 Where are affects being felt? Attitude to testing value Process and techniques improvements Tools Certification/training Outsourcing/near-shoring People skills Job market

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra10 Does industry sector make a difference? Finance Retail IT Services Telecoms Government Utilities Transport Other

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra11 Does size matter? Small niche players – Can react quickly but are they commercially strong enough Large service/integration firms – Maybe the first to get contracts reduced as they are typically the largest cost Risk adverse – Will behaviour change, will chasing revenue be the key driver, will “safe” organisations just fall behind Early adopters – First into a new market can bring big rewards, but is there the capital investment around to support this

(c) Copyright 2008 Aqastra12 How can we position ourselves What are our top 3 concerns now? What are out top 3 priorities for recession period? Where’s the “smart” money going?