Test/Support SynergyTest/Support SynergyForest Weld

Director of Quality Assurance and SupportArxan Technologies, Inc.

StrategiesStrategies

Synergy: more than just Test, more than just QA—all of Engineering

Support: customer info to Engineering, and Engineering info to customers

Test: customer-meaningful tests, with insight into internal risks

Quality: build in quality, = customer satisfaction

PracticesPractices

Support Report—what are those customers really doing with our software?◦Use-case calibration◦QA advise on expected behavior, isolation,

workaroundsSupport Top 10—key customer pain areas

to resolve in the productSupport input to requirements and designConfirm or correct QA impression of

validity of test case or usability input

PracticesPractices, cont’d, cont’d

Close-to-user opinion on defect severity or priority

Effective Alpha/Beta test (help both ways) Alpha/Beta feedback direct to QAEscapes! Review customer-defect arrivals

and test lessonsTrain the customers on the user docs;

train the user docs to the customer needs

NotNot

not Support doing test◦Support: make things work◦Support “not reliable” (not schedulable),

priority on reacting to customer issuesnot Test doing support

◦Practice at customer interaction◦Getting the customer going vs finding every

issue